


Muffins?

by sessiewrites



Category: Wynonna Earp (TV), Wynonna Earp (TV) RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Angst and Feels, Angst and Humor, Angst with a Happy Ending, Basketball, Basketball Player Nicole Haught, Basketball Player Waverly Earp, Cheerleader Waverly Earp, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/F, F/M, Feelings, Fluff, Fluff and Humor, Humor, Nicole Haught Needs A Hug, Podfic Available, Slow Build, Slow Burn Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, Soft Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught Fluff, Wayhaught - Freeform
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-04-15
Updated: 2020-05-19
Packaged: 2021-03-01 17:47:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 11
Words: 21,938
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23671036
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sessiewrites/pseuds/sessiewrites
Summary: WAYHAUGHT High School AU. Waverly Earp is the beloved point guard of the Purgatory High Lady Blue Devils basketball team and Nicole Haught is the alluring new girl in school with a very big secret. Wynonna is... well....Wynonna.***BUCKLE UP BUTTERCUPS***Welcome to a sexy, funny, fluffy, angsty, coming of age shitshow! Hope you enjoy! E4L*This is my very first attempt at writing just for fun, and my very first fanfic, so take it easy on me.UPDATE: One of the reasons I've been remiss in updating my fic is that I've begun reading/recording podfics for various authors/fandoms. If you'd like to hear me read my own story aloud.... TADAH!Podfic Availability:[Podfic] Muffins?
Relationships: Waverly Earp & Nicole Haught, Waverly Earp & Wynonna Earp, Waverly Earp/Nicole Haught, WayHaught, wynaught - Relationship
Comments: 78
Kudos: 118





	1. Chrissy, oh my God!

Waverly Earp could almost see their shot at this year's championship evaporate into thin air. The sharp pang of anxiety that shot through her chest was nothing, though, compared to the wave of genuine concern she felt for Chrissy Nedley, who was currently writhing in pain on the well-worn Purgatory High School basketball court floor. Her friend, and the team’s lead scorer, was well and truly hurt. Chrissy’s rapidly swelling knee and the steady stream of expletives flying out of her teenage mouth were all the proof Waverly needed.

“Chrissy, oh my God!” Kneeling at the taller girl’s side and looking into her eyes with all of the comfort and calm she could muster, Waverly sweetly mumbled, “Shh, lie still." Without missing a beat, Waves turned her head and threw a yell over her shoulder to anyone who would listen. "Go get the nurse!” Stephanie nodded and took off for the hallway door. Waverly inhaled a deep, steadying breath, and fortified herself internally. _You can do this._

Using a much gentler voice this time, she reassured Chrissy. “Try not to move, ok? Steph will be right back with the nurse.” The rest of the team gathered around, unsure of what to do or how to help. Waverly instinctively turned to the remaining Varsity Lady Blue Devils, and, with an authoritative tone that she didn’t really know she possessed, she barked, “Everyone back up! Give her some space, ok?” Turning again to Chrissy, she resumed her soothing tone. “It’s alright. You are going to be ok. I got you, Chrissy.”

Barely-contained tears welled up in Chrissy’s eyes as she tried to breathe through the pain. Her trembling words came out in a hoarse half-whisper. “Waves, this is bad.” She searched Waverly’s eyes for reassurance but found only sympathy and resolve. “I can’t put any weight on it. I can’t even put my leg down on the floor, it just hurts way too much.” The next few phrases tumbled out in rapid succession. “What if I can’t play? What if I’m out for the season? This was supposed to be our year, damnit! This was our big shot, Wavey! CHRIST this hurts!” Chrissy looked right through the rest of her team. She willfully ignored the look of pity on all of their faces. Closing her eyes as another wave of pain flooded her, she practically shouted, “FUCK!!! Where is the fucking nurse?!?” The words were growled rather said, and Waverly winced a little at the profanity. Chrissy did have a point, though. Where WAS the friggin’ nurse?

A blueberry-shaped, dark-haired woman in her fifties, with an extremely unfortunate bowl-cut hairstyle, made her way onto the court, lugging an oversized first aid bag. She was followed closely by Stephanie and Coach Gibson.

The head coach calmly assessed the scene, made eye contact with Chrissy, nodded curtly, and then called out loud enough for the whole gym to hear. “Girls, I think that’s enough practice for today. Hit the showers and I’ll see you tomorrow.” The players turned and reluctantly filtered out, throwing stressed looks over their shoulders and whispering nervously as they filed out of the gym toward the locker room. “Waverly, you stay,” Coach commanded.

Coach Gus Gibson, was a small salt-and-peppered, no-nonsense woman, with a heart that was secretly the size of Texas. She may have been a merciless drill sergeant in her role as coach, but as Waverly Earp's aunt and legal guardian, she knew that no one on the team was better-suited to support and encourage Chrissy. Yes, Waverly may be small, and very content to let others shine, but, my God, was she a fierce little thing - especially with her love. Physically, Waverly was an absolute machine. She was all lean muscle and athleticism, and she was in control of every single movement that her body made. Don’t get Gus started about how smart her niece was, because she was brilliant. Waverly’s intellect was as sharp as her lovely little face was soft. Waves had always been beautiful, even as a newborn. If only Gus could get her to believe it about herself. Those kind, hazel eyes always lit up the room, even if they were somewhat haunted by the loss she felt at such an early age.

In a thousand ways, Waverly was a spittin’ image of Gus’s sister at that age: the fiery teenager’s physicality, coordination, strength, and endurance were her mama, Michelle Gibson, made over. Lord only knows where Wavey got that sweet, bright spirit, though, because her “Rodeo Queen” Mama had been hell on wheels, while Waverly was nothing short of heaven-sent. Hell, her niece didn’t realize it, but she practically radiated all things good and light, warm and encouraging, and her pureness of heart affected everyone around her. Gus was certain that Chrissy needed that exact energy right now.

“Yes, Coach.” Waverly nodded dutifully at the request, using the formal greeting for her beloved aunt. She wasted no time as she reached out to grasp Chrissy’s shaky hand, focusing all of her attention on the tall, blonde girl, who looked so much younger when she was afraid. She put all of the charm, affection, and sass she could muster into her next words. “Maybe if you weren’t trying to flex on all of us in practice, you wouldn’t get hurt so much.” She crinkled her adorable nose with a smile and a wink as she ribbed her pretty friend. Like always, she succeeded in lightening the mood, even managing to pull a grunted half-laugh from the injured girl.

“Shut-up, Earp. You know I can’t help that I’m a superstar.” She squeezed Waverly’s hand and smirked a little, adding a cocky eyebrow raise for her favorite point guard. That brief moment of levity lasted only until the nurse, Mrs. Ebbing, repositioned Chrissy’s knee, drawing a loud hiss of pain from the injured player. “Ow, SHIT!”

“Language, Nedley,” Gus chided.

“Sorry, Coach.” She respected the woman enough to at least look sorry as she turned back to the school nurse. “How bad is it? Just a sprain?”

Nurse Ebbing closed her eyes, dropping her head with a small shake. Chrissy’s face fell and Waverly added a second hand on top of her dear friend's. Coach Gibson pulled the nurse aside, and, after a quick conversation, thanked her, and then told the girls to stay put while she went to get some crutches. Aunt Gus left Waverly to quietly and sweetly talk Chrissy through the pain and anxiety of the reality they were all facing.

Once Chrissy was mobile enough, Waverly quickly went to gather her injured friend’s things from the locker room. She brushed off her teammates, now in various stages of showering, only to say that they were going to the hospital and that everyone would know more by practice tomorrow. She made her way to the main gym entrance and hopped into the SUV with Aunt Gus and Chrissy, and found herself holding back her own tears as Chrissy finally broke down. Chrissy cried for the first time when she called her dad and told him they were en route to the hospital. Waverly couldn’t hear Sherriff Nedley’s words, but, knowing him, he was saying just the right thing to make her feel safe and help her stay strong.

Waverly wondered, not for the first time in her life, what it would be like to have that kind of father, or to have a father at all for that matter. Uncle Curtis and Aunt Gus were loving and caring, and always made sure that she and her sister Wynonna were taken care of, but that didn’t mean that she didn’t ache for what could have been. What if her Daddy hadn’t died when she was six, or Mama had stayed around to see her grow up? Would they be as proud of her as Sherriff Nedley was of Chrissy? Somehow Waverly doubted it.


	2. Golden Girls For Life!

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole Motherflippin' Haught.
> 
> That. Is. All.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Nicole Haught (#babygay) is probably...definitely in love with a straight girl (big mood) and really nervous about her first day at Purgatory High.

Nicole Haught stood in front of the full length mirror in her new bedroom, and sighed. Outfit No. 4 would have to do, because she was NOT going to open another cardboard box. Her room was already stressing her out, and more clutter would make this whole situation even harder to navigate. Honestly, who arrives in a new town at 10 p.m. and then has to go to school the next morning? As usual, her parents had not taken into consideration how their actions would affect their youngest daughter.

Growing up she always found herself feeling like an afterthought to her family. She was usually treated like an inconvenience at best, or a burden at worst. At least in the last town they lived in, she had friends. In the two or so years they had lived in Springfield, she had found a small support system. Most notably she had Sam, her best friend and her first big crush.

 _Sam. Ugh._ If only she had more time, that crush was definitely heading toward something… more. Well, fine, ok, who was she kidding? She had two years to tell Sam that she had feelings for her, and she could never manage to find the bravery to even point the relationship remotely in that direction. She rolled her eyes at herself, grabbed her phone and sent a quick text to the girl that she wasn't ready to let go of. 

NICOLE: “ Dude, I’m dying of nerves. Are you sure you don't want to drive 3+ hrs and walk me in to my first class?!? FML.”

*BESTIE*: “Come on Nickles, you got this! Flash the dimps and those purgs won’t know what hit em”

Nicole grinned and stared at herself in the mirror, deciding to practice her smile. She actually hated her dimples, and Sam knew it. Her whole life everyone had always just felt free to talk about her dimples, or her very, very, almost too red hair, or how tall she was. Schoolmates, strangers, grown men, random people on the street, they often commented, and she felt like they saw these physical features and then immediately pegged her for something she wasn’t. Nicole looked in the mirror and all she could see was a lanky, teenage ginger, with brown eyes that were too big for her face and skin that was too pale to even think about trying to get a tan. Yes, she could tell by the reaction that she got, especially from the male gender, that some magic combination of her appearance was desirable or even stereo-typically “hot”, but for the life of her she couldn’t manage to feel that way deep down. The disconnect between these external and internal forces made her want to hide away altogether. God she missed Sam.

NICOLE: “Shut up about my fucking dimples you know I hate them. I miss you though. Come visit?”

*BESTIE*: “First chance I get, I promise. Guess what? James FINALLY asked me out. We talked on the phone for 3 hours last night. Did you know he has a secret obsession with the Golden Girls? I think I’m in love!”

Nicole stood frozen on the spot, holding her phone, hands suddenly numb. “Shit.” She uttered aloud on accident. She knew this was coming. On some level she could feel Sam and James inching closer and closer, but she couldn’t help but wonder if she had just said something, or done SOMETHING, made ANY kind of move at all, that maybe, just maybe, Sam would feel the same way about her. “Why are you like this?" she asked her own reflection. 

Nicole had spent the majority of her freshman and sophomore years obsessing over every encounter, every conversation and every little look with Sam, desperately trying to find moments that were more than just friendly. Each time she thought she had one, she talked herself out of it, and convinced herself that she was reading too much into it. Now it was too late. Sam was dating a guy, and not just any guy, the totally perfect guy. You know, the going-to-be-a-doctor-filthy-rich-stupid-sweet-gorgeous-golden-girl-obsessed guy that Sam has had a major crush on since she was 5 years old. Nicole closed her eyes, and involuntarily, her whole body slumped over in defeat. When she finally looked up again and caught her reflection in the mirror, she almost didn’t recognize the tired sadness in her own eyes. _Welp, time to play this heartbreak off and be a normal friend._

<NICOLE>: “Awwww, it’s about time! GGFL baby!!! Golden Girls For Life! Listen Sam, I know you are happy, but I will beat his whole ass if he hurts you. Ok, gtg, gonna be late for school. ”

<*BESTIE*>: “I know you will! LOL. Give em hell Haughtie. Send me a pic of your first day outfit ok? ”

With a deep resigned breath Nicole snapped a pic and sent it to Sam. She tried for a suave, sexy face, and a total power pose, but the picture just looked goofy as hell no matter how many angles she tried.

<*BESTIE*>: “That face! LOL. Nicole Haught you are BAMF. Look at those jeans, Queen! Love you!”

<NICOLE>: God I hate you. Love you back!

Sam always said “Love You”, but Nicole wasn’t naïve enough to believe she meant it in the same way Nicole did.

Meanwhile, Outfit No. 4, which consisted of patterned converse high tops, tight black jeans cuffed at the bottom, a black and white Pretenders t-shirt with a green-and-black flannel on top, with her hair down and wavy, would have to do. She slung her worn backpack over her shoulders and jogged down the stairs, barely pausing to say goodbye to her mother who sat at the kitchen table, head in hands trying to wake-up. “Bye Mom,” she called over her shoulder as she grabbed the keys to The Duck, her old ass ‘88 Jeep Wagoneer, complete with lightly rusted wheel wells and vintage wood paneling on the sides. She buckled up, and begrudgingly made her way to Purgatory High School, home of the Blue Devils. According to her parents promise, Purg High was the last high school she would ever have to transfer to. She huffed to herself, _Purgatory_ , what a fitting name for her current situation. She cranked the radio up and tried to forget about Sam and James, unpacking all those boxes, and the nerves that still buzzed and hummed painfully underneath her pale skin.


	3. Calm Your Tits

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> A morning with the Earp sisters.

“Wynonna!” Waverly called, ok YELLED, down the stairs. “If I don’t see you at the front door, ready to go, in the next sixty seconds, I’m stealing your truck!”

Waverly wanted to get to school early. She had promised Chrissy that she would walk in with her today, and be there for her as she fielded all of the questions and looks that the knee brace and crutches were sure to incite. Chrissy had somehow managed to tear both her ACL and MCL and was going to need reconstructive knee surgery. Waverly’s stomach dropped, yet again, at the prospect of limping, _ok, bad choice of words_ , through the season without their best player. Waverly knew it was selfish, and that Chrissy had lost so much more than she had, but the whole thing just made Waverly sick to her stomach.

The reality was that Chrissy Nedley was so much more than just a leader or a really good post player, she was Waverly's partner in crime on the court. They had been playing basketball together since elementary school and their court chemistry was practically an art form at this point. Flashing back to the scene at the hospital last night, when they hugged each other and cried together hearing the news that Chrissy was done for the season, Waverly let out a deep resigned sigh. The whole team would be devastated, so would the whole town for that matter. The local newspaper had written a story about the Lady Blue Devils this year, calling it “a perfect storm” and raving about how this particular team had a real chance of being champs. _Oh well, back to the business at hand._

“Wynonna Nadine Earp!!! I am in no way joking!!! Get your drunk ass…er…heinie out of that bed right now!” Heading toward the creaky stairs of the old Earp Homestead, that she and her sister had moved back into when Wynonna turned 19, Waverly could barely make out the snarky reply from down the stairs.

“Calm your tits, Waves. Jesus! We don’t have to leave for another 30 minutes!”

"That's it!" she growled to herself. Waverly grabbed her backpack and stomped down the first few stairs. _If Wynonna wants a fight, she's got one._ Heck, she was practically itching to let out some the deeply repressed anger she had been collecting over the last 24 hours. “I told you when you came in last night that I need to go in early today, for Chrissy, remember? Oh wait, of course you don’t remember, because you were 3, no let's make that 4 sheets to the wind!!! How can you even function at work hungover all the time!?!” She stared down at her taller, older, and undeniably less responsible big sister.

“I’m an Earp, Babygirl. We don’t do hungover.” Wynonna's face lit up momentarily and a smug smirk, complete with dimples, stretched across her face. Of course Wynonna was proud of herself for that one-liner. Waverly rolled her eyes and bounced down the last few stairs, frustration cutting through her like the biting winter wind.

“Really? Tell that to your hair. Have you even looked in the mirror?” Waverly quipped. _Good one Waves_.

Wynonna huffed and turned away, hoping to find her reflection in the first shiny surface. A little too quickly she turned around and propped her shoulder lazily against the kitchen doorway. She and Waverly locked eyes, and Wynonna couldn't help but choke back a snorted laugh. Now only a few feet away from her, stood her half-pint baby sister in a classic Waverly Earp pose, unrelenting hazel eyes intensely narrowed and her hands fisted rigidly on both hips. Wynonna could not get over how hilarious it was when teeny-tiny Waverly tried to do big-bad intimidation techniques. In fact, she’s was definitely going call her out for it as soon as she finished this giant delicious muffin she had surreptitiously shoved into her mouth while pretending to look for a mirror.

Waverly glared at the muffin hanging out of her infuriating sister’s mouth. Anger flashed red behind the younger Earp's eyes. _NO SHE DID NOT!_ The ridiculously over-sized baked good, currently being chomped upon by Wynonna, looked suspiciously like one of the muffins Waverly had baked late last night for the team. One of the very same muffins, she had purposely hidden in the highest cabinet in the kitchen, with a note that simply read: " **DON’T"** , written in huge print with a black sharpie. Waverly glared as hard as she could at the without-a-doubt, definitely, one hundred percent hungover, but still annoyingly gorgeous, 4 year-old trapped in a 20 year-old's body.

How was it possible to idolize someone this inconsiderate and irritating? Waverly had no idea, yet she absolutely did idolize her. She had always idolized her big sister. Waves found it impossible to hate Wynonna, with her sky blue eyes, dimples for days, long, dark, and currently wild (even for Wynonna) hair, and her perfect freaking body. “Nona” as Waverly had called her as a child, had no right to be that witty and beautiful. Despite the obnoxious moaning sounds coming from her arrogant sister's mouth, Waverly still believed that underneath all of her reckless, self-destructive, and completely, utterly, total jerk tendencies was the same little-big sister that had never failed to hold her when she was scared, or drop everything and run to her for even a minor scratch. Nona definitely had to grow up way too fast, and that irrevocably takes it's toll, but the littlest Earp refused to believe that a soul which had started off so deeply kind and protective would just disappear into thin air. No, Wynonna’s real soul was just hiding. Waverly was sure of it.

Wynonna devoured the stolen muffin in roughly 3 bites, and then nonchalantly watched as Waverly huffed past her, carrying a chair from the kitchen table and grumbling incoherently under her breath as she ascended up to the topmost cabinet over the fridge. In less than a second, Waverly discovered the note, that she had carefully taped to the outside of the Tupperware container, was now lying face down on top of the refrigerator. She growled furiously and held the sign up for Wynonna to see. Her sister just lifted one shoulder slightly and glanced down at her nails. Waverly then opened the cabinet, followed by the container, to find a noticeable hole in the middle where the muffin in question used to reside. Waverly angrily snatched up the now-defiled container of muffins, shut the cabinet door and stepped hard off the chair, stumbling a little as she hit the kitchen floor. _Smooth Waves_. She recovered and continued her tirade.

“I CAN’T BELIEVE YOU!!!” she practically spat.

“Easy there, Sis." _Whoa_ , she wasn't sure she had seen little Waveypants this mad in years. She decided to go ahead and let her win one. "Fine, ok, I stole ONE stupid muffin." She pretended to roll her eyes. "It was delicious by the way. Great job. Really, really... MOIST.” She emphasized the last word and waggled her eyebrows, adding sexual innuendo to further infuriate her already mad-as-hell little sister. Waverly was always so shy about sex, and Wynonna knew that embarrassing her would piss her off that much more. She didn’t know why she kept picking at Waves like this and she wasn’t proud of it, but for whatever reason she kept following the impulse.

On cue, Waverly stomped past her, through the doorway, intentionally bumping Wynonna’s arm, hard, with her shoulder, and slammed the door on her way out to the truck. “Just take me to school, you friggin' JERK!” she called over her shoulder.

 _Geez_ , Wynonna shook her head, more than a little impressed at that serious shoulder bump and the temper to match. Her kid sister was barely halfway through high school and already apparently had a stick stuck so far up her zero-body-fat-havin' ass that Wynonna was certain she would end up either a tiny bouncer or a mean old cat lady. She grabbed the keys off the holder by the front door and caught her reflection in the glass.

"Oof! She wasn’t kidding about the hair.” Without missing a beat or bothering to fix her wild hair, she blew herself a kiss and headed for the truck. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this one was so short. @sessiewrites Tumblr


	4. Dead in a Ditch

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Haught has an eventful first trip to school.

Nicole looked up from her phone’s GPS, certain that she must have taken a wrong turn on her way to school. All of these roads were starting to look the same with their big sky, barbed wire fencing, evergreen trees and miles and miles of ranch land.

“Sonovabitch!”

She slammed the brakes and jerked the wheel hard to the right, narrowly missing a doe and her young fawn standing startled in the middle of the highway. It happened so fast. One moment she was driving alongside the faded, double yellow line that was painted on the worn asphalt, the next moment, the light hum of the song on the radio became the ungodly, panicked screech of tires. It was like someone had reached up and changed the station without her knowledge, and now the volume was all the way up. 

Nicole had always thought that people’s hearts literally stopped, or that time magically slowed down, or that your life would actually flash before your eyes, but this reality was nothing like that. This was an explosion, or a shotgun blast, of pure chaos, and it was intrusive and deafening. Her heart didn't stop, but it did slam and pound so loudly that she couldn’t tell if the noise belonged to her, or to the devastating chain reactions happening outside. IMPACT. The sudden halt was more violent than any Nicole had experienced before. Stopping that quickly had felt like a punch landing against her entire body, and the awkward angle at which her jeep was now resting in the deep roadside ditch made her want to retch.

 _BREATHE._ She repeated slowly, like a mantra, in her own mind. When she could feel again, she felt cold and unsteady. Her brain reacted like someone had just shouted her awake from a dead sleep. The word "disoriented" didn’t quite describe the shaky, terrified, fog she felt choking her senses. Then, just like everything else that had happened in the last few seconds, it changed on a dime. The fog lifted and she was back. Her mind, her body, and her instincts fired all at once.

A quick glance in the rear view mirror confirmed that she wasn’t bleeding, at least not from her face or head. Her shoulder and chest ached where the seat belt had done it's job. Her neck, her right leg, and both of her still-shaking arms were also hurting too much. She quickly took inventory, and after gently moving all of the places that had felt wrong, she concluded that she was relatively, and kind of miraculously, uninjured.

Her poor jeep, on the other hand, was face first in a purgatorial ditch, and apparently did not want to crank. She pumped the gas a few times and tried again, turning the key harder and longer than she knew was good for the vehicle. “Come on old girl. Please start. Please.” She pleaded to no avail. Nicole resigned herself, and climbed up and out of the faithful Wagoneer, reaching down into the floorboard for her dropped cell phone. She quickly and awkwardly hopped back in, just enough to reach across the driver’s seat and grab her backpack off of the passenger floor.

 _School. Oh ,shit!_ She dialed her Dad’s number first, no answer. She remembered hearing him leave for his business trip early this morning, and with her luck, he was probably already on the plane. _Damnit._ Voicemail would have to suffice _._ Next she tried her mother. Surprise, surprise-again, no answer. _Of all the days for her to ignore me._ Nicole left another voice message, this one much less gracious, and then immediately texted Sam.

<NICOLE>: “WORST. DAY. EVER.”

<*BESTIE*>: “Nickles, it’s barely even 7:30? Are you even AT SCHOOL yet?”

Nicole couldn't help but snort a little. If Samantha Mandeville only knew. Nicole made her way to the front of the vehicle, already cringing, knowing full-well that if the accident was bad enough to keep the engine from starting, there was no chance there wasn’t some serious body damage as well. The closer she got to the passenger side the more she felt like throwing up. The front wheel was bent at an unnatural angle, definitely not drive-able. The entire front passenger quarter panel, the fender, and half of the bumper, were also trashed. She snapped a pic and texted it to her Mom, Dad, and Sam, separately.

<NICOLE>: <imgage.129>

<*BESTIE*>: FUuuuUUUuuuck!!! DUCKIE?!?!? OMG Nicole! Are you ok?!?!?!

<NICOLE>: I’m fine but it won’t start and my parents aren’t picking up. School’s another 3 miles and home is at least 6.

She put her left hand on her hip, closed her eyes and, slowly but gently, rolled her sore neck around. “What is with my luck today.” she said out loud to the universe. She couldn’t afford roadside assistance, if they even had something like that in this hick town. It would also be a cold day in hell before her parents gave her any money for anything related to her vehicle. They never wanted her to buy it in the first place. She had worked every night and weekend, and two whole summers in order to save up for that tiny piece of independence and freedom-the same freedom that was now dead in a ditch, in the middle of nowhere, in a town she didn’t want to be in.

After propping the hood open, and turning on the flashers, she decided to begin the trek to Purgatory High School. She would wait to hear from one of her parents in the meantime. Her text tone for Sam mercifully shattered the silence of the country road.

<*BESTIE*>: Roadside? Tow Truck? I’m so sorry Nic! Do you want me to skip school and come get you?

 _YES!_ As much as she wanted to look into Sam's beautiful blue eyes, and hug the shit out of her, it just wasn't practical. By the time Sam drove the three-and-a-half hours to Purgatory, Nicole would be in Chemistry class. _Fuckin' chemistry class._ Chemistry was the only subject she just couldn't seem to beat. Re-taking it here at the new school was probably less humiliating than re-taking it back at her old school, but only barely. 

<NICOLE>: No, I’m fine. I’ll just hitch a ride with the first questionable truck driver I see. LOL

<*BESTIE*>: I’m coming to get you.

<NICOLE>: I was kidding Sammie, I’ll just walk. It’s only 3 miles.

<*BESTIE*>: I don’t like it. Be careful babe. Text me the moment you get somewhere that isn’t the side of the road, ok? Love you!

<NICOLE>: Love you back!

It hurt her every time Sam said those two words. To make matters worse, the relief that Nicole probably should feel at being able to say her own secret truth out loud to the other girl, never came either. For the hundredth or so time since she found out Sam was dating James this morning, she kicked herself inside. _Why does life have to hurt this much._ She let out a big, probably too dramatic, breathy sigh and kept walking.

Nicole had gotten maybe two-hundred yards from the wreckage of her beloved Duck, when she heard a car. No. Scratch that, it was more likely an old truck. A truck that from the sound of it, desperately needed a new muffler. She made space between herself and the road, hugging the ditch, and trying to maintain a safe distance in order to avoid being accidentally hit by the passing vehicle. Suddenly she noticed the sound of the engine getting quieter. The truck was slowing down. _Great. Just what I need, a horny redneck hoping to score with a high school girl. For fuck’s sake, could this day get any worse?_

She steeled herself. Nicole wasn’t usually shy, but she wasn't ready for this. No part of her wanted to play the damsel in distress today, on top of everything else. After another, more genuine sigh, she began the slow turn toward the road, plastering a competent-but-friendly smile on her face. She was now mostly ready to politely decline any “offers” from the locals. Just as she was able to make out that the vehicle was, in fact, an old truck, she heard a woman’s borderline-mocking voice lilting from the driver’s seat.

“You ok there, Red?”


	5. Raised in a Barn

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nicole hitches a ride with that "questionable" trucker, and I don't know, like, maybe a meet-cute? It could happen, IJS.

“Wynonna!” Waverly whipped her head around to glare at her sister.

“What?!?” Wynonna threw both hands up defensively. “She’s got like, SUPER red hair!” The older Earp used her right hand to gesture toward the girl on the side of the road, just as she made eye contact with redhead for the first time. Wynonna immediately noticed that the stranded stranger was much taller and younger than she had originally thought. Also, clearly, the nickname hadn't landed either, because Red's lips were formed into a tight annoyed line, and her left eyebrow was raised ever so slightly. _Ooh, feisty, I like it. This'll be fun._

God, Waverly was so done with Wynonna today. SO done. She had to practically beg her sister to even pull over in the first place, and now she was harassing this poor woman. Waverly couldn’t roll her eyes hard enough, and after mouthing _be nice_ , she turned to apologize for her insensitive sister’s actions. “Miss, I’m really sorry for…” her eyes landed on the stranger’s face for the first time, “…Oh.” 

Waverly had completely lost her train of thought at the unexpectedly gorgeous girl standing in front of her. She looked to be Waverly’s age, maybe a year or two older at most, and she was wearing a backpack. Maybe she was on her way to school too? One thing was certain, she definitely did not go to Purgatory High because Waverly would have remembered that long, hair-model hair and those big, beautiful chocolate colored eyes. For the second time in the past millisecond, she marveled at how perfect the stranger’s face was. Without any conscious thought, her eyes fell to take in the rest of the mysterious redhead. _Whoa._ This stranger was a knock-out. Tall, slender but curvy, creamy pale skin, her stance was so confident. This girl could easily be a model. She was so edgy too, with the band t-shirt, _I love the Pretenders_ , and the all-stars. Waverly immediately wanted to know everything about this person.

Nicole was still engaged in a glaring contest with the driver of the old beat-up farm truck, when the passenger, another female, began to speak. Nicole let her gaze stay on the smirking brunette, who was clearly in need of a hairbrush, a little longer than necessary just to ensure that the driver got the message: Nicole was NOT in the mood for nicknames. The passenger suddenly stopped talking and let out a concerned sounding "Oh" sound. That abrupt change of tone, mid-statement jarred Nicole out of her staredown with the wild-haired brunette. Trying not to panic, Nicole diverted her attention over to the passenger, a super cute honey-haired girl who kind of, well, sort of almost looked like she was checking her out? The younger girls eyes were intently grazing down the front of Nicole's body.

“What?” Nicole exclaimed in a higher-than-normal voice, suddenly acutely nervous. _Why is she looking at me like that?_ “Oh shit, am I bleeding or something?” Nicole looked down at herself, frantically patting her hands down her own body, searching for signs of blood, or random pain, or anything that might cause the other girl to look so shocked.

“Oh…um, no. Sorry, yeah, I mean, NO, you're not bleeding.” Waverly couldn’t manage to string together a coherent sentence. The red-haired girl breathed a sigh of relief and held eye contact with Waverly for the first time. Just like that, the littlest Earp felt herself freezing again, this time at depth of sadness in the stranger’s eyes. Even as a grin spread across the tall girl's face, the sadness in her eyes persisted. _Those DIMPLES_. Waverly closed her eyes and shook her head a few times, forcing herself to get it together. This person needed help, and she could fangirl later.

Nicole smiled, the passenger was obviously shy, that's probably why she had stammered a bit at first. Now that she was looking into the other girl’s eyes, she quickly amended her first impression. Little miss hazel eyes, flawless tan, and toned arms was full-on HOT. Maybe Nicole’s luck was changing after all? Instead of a creepy trucker, she was apparently being rescued by a beautiful girl. Alas, it wasn't meant to be, and her hopes were quickly dashed the moment old Bedhead in the driver’s seat piped in.

“Do you need a ride or not, Red? I’ve got places to be.” Wynonna was having too much fun annoying this chick.

Nicole had never been so tempted to give a good samaritan the finger as she was in this moment. She was moving her hand to do just that when she noticed the mortified look on the gorgeous passenger's face.

“I’m so sorry.” Waverly used her thumb to point backwards at Wynonna and rolled her eyes. “My sister was raised in a barn.” _Oh my god, did I just say “raised in a barn”? Get it together Waves._ Suddenly shy, she glanced down, then as soon as her embarrassment would allow her, she looked up through her lashes and met the mysterious girl’s eyes again. At the sight of those intense brown eyes, focused wholly and entirely on her own, she couldn’t help but break out into the biggest, and she hoped, friendliest smile ever. _Oh no._ A massive blush chose that moment to make its way to her cheeks. _What is wrong with me?_ Finding the only ounce of bravery she had left, she plowed ahead, “ What my sister meant to say was- is there anything we can do to help?”

It was Nicole’s turn to get tongue-tied. That smile had completely short-circuited her brain. _Whoa._ “Uh, yeah, I mean, if it’s not, uh, ya know, too much trouble or whatever, I need to get to Purgatory High School?" Nicole reflexively reached up and rubbed the back of her neck as she looked down and away. She had never been good at asking for help so she distracted herself with a rock lying on the ground and began to kick it gently with her high-top shoe. She braced herself for the response from the truck. Chancing a glance up at the sweet girl, who was adorably blushing, she continued, "Um, I'm new in town, today is my first day of school.” 

Waverly nearly gasped aloud at the girl's admission. She was still a little mesmerized at how captivating the person in front of her was, so she might have replied a little too enthusiastically. “No trouble at all! I’m Waverly and this is Wynonna. We’re the Earp sisters and we are, funny enough, already headed that way!”

Relief washed over Nicole in a crashing wave. “I’m Nicole… Nicole Haught.” She chose to ignore the snort from the driver's seat at her last name, she was used to it by now. Nicole looked deep into hazel eyes and felt herself break into a smile that had to be cheesy, because it was starting to hurt her face a little.She only hoped that her smile was at least half as bright as Waverly’s had been. _Cool name._ “Um, that would be awesome! Thank you, Waverly.” _Oh God did I actually just wink at Waverly? Where the hell did that come from? Oh, somebody kill me. I'm such a fuckin' nerd._ Desperately needing to put space between herself and the source of her newfound awkwardness, she made a split second decision. Nicole was not the kind of person to look a gift horse in the mouth, so she took a few quick steps, and in a move she had done thousands of times with her Grandpa's truck, she placed her right foot on the rear tire and vaulted herself into the bed of the truck. She sat quickly on the side of the bed, scooting toward the cab and once settled, she tapped twice on the roof of the cab to indicate she was ready to go. The truck didn't move.

“Red, what the hell's wrong with you?” Wynonna called out the window. “Ouch!” she rubbed her arm where Waverly had just backhanded her. "Geez! So violent today."

“Nona, quit it! I mean it!” Waverly hissed.

“Fine,” she said quietly to Waverly. Sticking her head back out of the window, she continued, sarcastically emphasizing the new girl's name, “N-i-c-o-l-e, you are not riding in the back of the truck like livestock. Somebody with your shit luck needs a seatbelt. Get in the damn truck already.”

 _Oh._ Wynonna actually had a point. _Pretty smart for someone named after one of the Judd's._ Nicole REALLY didn't like Waverly's big sister. Keeping her lame joke to herself, Nicole quickly stood up and used one hand to heave both legs simultaneously over the side of the truck bed, landing hard on both feet and feeling every sore place on her body from the wreck earlier. She hid a wince and whipped her backpack off, holding it in her left hand, while she used her right one to open the passenger door. The first thing she noticed was that there wasn’t really enough room in the cab of the truck for the three of them. The next thing she noticed was that Waverly Earp was wearing half as many clothes as any sane person would wear in this weather. The last thing she noticed was that Waverly’s blush had somehow gotten even worse, and that it was apparently contagious. Her face flushed with heat that she knew would be blatantly obvious against her pale skin. _Fuck my actual life._


	6. The Ms. Holt Scenario

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Gay panic Nicole, Kindergarten Nicole, Fluffy Nicole.

“Let me scoot over a little.” Waverly smiled brightly, and inched closer to her sister, making room for Nicole to climb into the truck. She innocently patted the seat next to her, which drew Nicole's eyes down to the small space she was going to have to squeeze into, and unfortunately, also directly onto Waverly’s bare, tan, and extremely well-defined thighs. _ABORT!_ Nicole jumped a little and closed her eyes tight.

“I uh” Nicole stammered yet again, “I’m just gonna, put my um, backpack in the back.” Logistically speaking, there clearly was not enough room for her backpack in the cramped cab. Practically speaking, Nicole straight-up needed a moment to recover from the sight of Waverly’s very, very perfect legs. She turned away, and with her heart sounding like the drumline at a football game, she took a deep breath, and tossed her bag unceremoniously in the back of the truck, taking some time to tuck it securely behind the wheel well. _Breathe, Haught._

For as long as she could remember, Nicole had known that she was more into girls than boys. Yet, for all of that knowing, she had done very little feeling. At almost 17 years-old, she had never even kissed a girl. Looking back, she thought that her repression probably began back in kindergarten, when she developed that harmless crush on her substitute teacher, Ms. Holt. The twenty-something blonde woman was so pretty, and nice, and she always picked the exact right sticker that five year-old Nicole really wanted. She was certain that Ms. Holt was the “bestest teacher in the whole wide world”. So when, as a little girl, she confessed to her mother that she wanted to marry Ms. Holt, and her mother dismissed it with a condescending laugh, Nicole felt shame about love for the first time.

“Girls don’t marry other girls.” Her mother had stated matter-of-factly. Then her mom did what she always did when Nicole had ideas or desires that she didn’t approve of, she tried to confuse her. Using the same tone of voice that she had used when she talked Nicole out of that toy gun and into the Barbie doll, last week at the store, her mother plowed ahead, “Maybe you don’t want to marry Ms. Holt, honey, maybe you just want to be a teacher like her when you grow up?” Nicole hated conflict, hated feeling in trouble, she always followed the rules and stayed under the radar, but she also couldn’t just lie. She shook her little head “no”, and with impossibly big brown eyes, brimming with sincerity, she whispered quietly, the same answer that she always gave, that she wanted to be a police “ossifer”.

Teenage Nicole, standing on the side of the road, next to a beat-up truck, and absentmindedly fussing with the placement of her backpack, shook her head. She flashed back to the exact look her mother had given her, the familiar look of pure disappointment. She remembered that Mom just rolled her eyes and quickly changed tactics, “I think you probably just want to have yellow hair like Ms. Holt, don’t you Nicky?” At that, Nicole’s little eyes lit up, and her five year-old-self nodded “yes”, and really meant it. By that point she had already hated the attention her red hair caused, and could one-hundred percent agree that Ms. Holt’s yellow hair was way prettier.

Nicole smirked a little at her younger self, then quickly frowned again when she remembered what came next. Kindergarten Nicole had felt so relieved at the proud and triumphant expression that had washed over her mother’s face. So much so, that she didn’t bother telling her mom that she still really DID want to marry Ms. Holt. Little Nicole stayed silent because she had figured out that wanting something like that made her silly and different and kind of bad, and that her mother would never stop trying to change her mind about it.

The “Ms. Holt” scenario repeated itself with friends, teammates, actresses, comic book characters, and musicians, over and over again, until Nicole had uneventfully resigned herself to the fact that she really did like girls. It wasn’t a big deal. She knew now that she wasn’t "bad" for being gay, but at the same time, there was no reason to come out if she wasn’t even in a relationship yet. By that same token, she definitely wasn’t in any hurry to be in a relationship. If she were being honest, the whole idea of emotional or physical intimacy in general terrified her. Add to that, the fact that she had never actually met another lesbian her age, or even anyone who identified as bi-sexual that she had taken any interest in. Nicole just continued to tell herself that gays were notorious for thriving after high school, so she would get far, far away from her parents, train to be a real police “ossifer” and then worry about the gay thing when something noteworthy actually happened.

“Everything ok?” Waverly called from the truck.

 _Shit!_ The Earp sisters were waiting on her and she was taking a whole trip down memory lane, just to avoid sitting next to Waverly. _Waverly_. Nicole had never, ever reacted this viscerally to a woman before, not even Sam. In fact, she couldn’t think of a single time where she had been just completely derailed by something as benign as a simple smile. No, because where Sam had given her butterflies, Waverly had rendered her speechless. Then there was the part of her that felt so guilty for being this attracted to someone she had just met. What did that say about her, as a person, that she was feeling this physically drawn to a perfect stranger? _Lord, Stop drooling, Haught. Get your shit together._

Nicole carefully slid up and into the small, unoccupied portion of the passenger seat, successfully managing to avoid touching any part of the completely adorable, _probably ,totally straight_ , girl named Waverly Earp. So far, so good. If she could manage to avoid any and all contact, maybe she could calm down enough to behave like a normal human being. _Here's hoping._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Waverly's POV is already written and will be posted later today.


	7. The Haught's Aren't Really Huggers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> An entire chapter devoted to a five-minute Wayhaught car ride. The daily special is fluff & feels with a side of angst and humor for dessert.

Waverly’s heart was racing so fast that she swore she could feel it in her fingertips. Something about this whole roadside rescue thing was beyond exhilarating and she could not wait to find out every single detail about the mysterious new girl currently climbing into Wynonna’s truck. Whoever she was, she smelled AMAZING. _I wonder what soap she uses? Maybe it’s her shampoo?_ Waverly took the opportunity, while the redhead reached her long arm out to close the truck door, to let her eyes wander over Nicole. The notably tall girl was politely taking up way less space than she could have, as she mumbled a sincere apology and closed the door. She didn’t make any move to get more comfortable or relax and instead stared rigidly out the window.

Next, Waverly focused on Nicole’s long gorgeous red hair, currently falling in thick loose waves across her green and black shirt. It was almost as long as Waverly’s and it was absolutely stunning. She caught herself reaching up to run a hand through those fiery, silky strands, but with her hand already halfway there, she thought better of it. Nicole had been through a serious trauma. Her SUV was probably totaled. There was a good chance that she was still shaken up from the whole thing, even if she was surprisingly calm for someone who almost died. That thought made Waverly want to hug the poor girl, but then she was interrupted by Wynonna’s elbow lightly pushing into her ribs. It was the Wynonna Earp classic sister move, the get-the-heck-off-me signal, that she had been using since they were little. Wynonna hated feeling constricted. _Perfect!_ Waverly thought. _I can kind of hug Nicole, and let her know she’s not alone, and keep Wynonna from having a claustrophobic meltdown._

Nicole’s no-contact plan didn’t last long. It was not for her lack of trying. As soon as she had shut the door and buckled her seatbelt, the younger Earp sister promptly wiggled over and relaxed contentedly against her left side. _The fuck?_ She tensed, hopefully not noticeably, and braced herself for more waves of anxiety and awkwardness to overtake her. The waves didn’t crash and she realized that this felt sort of…nice?

“Sorry! It’s kinda tight,” Waverly announced, forcing Nicole to look in her direction. The brunette’s face held a bright but cautious smile, and when Nicole dared to make eye contact, she saw Waverly’s eyes light up. The cheeky girl’s voice dropped a little lower, as she seamlessly switched to a comedic version of a southern accent and said, “Hope ya’ don’t mind snugglin’?” 

Just when Nicole thought she couldn’t get any more endearing, the tiny temptress scrunched her perfect little nose, let out a mischievous half-giggle, and shyly looked down at the tupperware container in her lap. Nicole was thankful for the break in eye contact, Waverly’s hazel eyes were kind of hard not to fall into. Alas, the break was over too soon. Waverly looked back up, slowly, through her eyelashes, and flashed a tentative grin. Nicole’s stomach took a nosedive, and she felt her pulse quicken. _She’s got to stop doing that!_

Nicole was having a delayed response to the world around her, especially Waverly’s words from a moment ago. _Something about snuggling? Was it a question? It didn’t sound like one_? Before she could fully recall, she felt Waverly start to wiggle again. Sure enough, as if she had read some kind of unintentional permission on Nicole’s face, Waverly scooted impossibly closer and leaned a little more deeply into Nicole, pressing a steady amount of her body weight against her this time, and leaving no room for a gap. Waverly was touching her whole left side now and Nicole marveled at how effortlessly she seemed to just melt into her. She tried to think of anything else.

She failed. 

_Did she just sigh?_ Nicole froze.

“Mmm.” _Oops! I hope she didn’t hear that?_ Waverly hadn’t meant to sigh like someone stepping into a bubble bath, but Nicole was all warm and soft and smelled so yummy, that she couldn’t help it. _Maybe it’s the muffins that smell so good?_ She doubted it. _I really should have grabbed my jacket._ She didn’t realize how cold she had been, and that made her flash back to the fight she had with Wynonna just fifteen minutes ago. Which, in turn, caused her to remember Chrissy injured and hurting on the gym floor. Maybe she needed this human contact just as much as Nicole did.

Nicole was not sure how to even respond to the sound Waverly made when she snuggled up into her, or the non-question-question she had asked about the snuggling currently taking place. She was, however, mortified to feel a crooked smile worm its way onto her traitorous face. She was trying to pretend this wasn’t happening, but in her defense, Waverly Earp was the human equivalent of a tiny, floofy, baby bunny, all big-eyed, playful, cuddly and irresistible. Nicole’s crooked smile must have upgraded into a dimpled one at that thought, because Waverly’s eyes immediately focused like laser beams onto that part on her face.

_Fuck. Here comes the blush._

Nicole just simply could NOT take any of this anymore. None of it. So she turned to look out of the window again. _It’s amazing how utterly fascinating a herd of cows can be when you are trying not to lust after strangers._ She rolled her eyes at herself. _Three miles. Five minutes tops. You can absolutely make it 5 minutes, just focus on the cows._

Waverly almost whimpered when Nicole stopped smiling at her like that. She was fighting a full-on pout because Nicole had shifted her body away, taking with her some of the warmth that Waverly had already grown accustomed to. She wanted more of that smile and those criminally insane dimples, that smile had made the sadness that swirled behind Nicole’s puppy dog eyes disappear for a moment. Behind the darkness there was something soothing, and wonderful, and real, and Waverly couldn’t get enough of it. She was also having a hard time wrapping her head around why she was so completely drawn to the girl from the side of the road. She would have to really dig to find out what exactly it was, but the bottom line was that Nicole was special somehow, Waverly could just feel it.

It was no secret that Waverly Earp was more empathetic than the average high school kid. Her Aunt Gus was always warning her that it wasn’t good for her to try to fix every broken thing that she ran across, but Waverly always did anyway. Maybe it was easier to fix the hurts that could be seen easily in another person, than to look too closely at her own brokenness.

Waverly knew that she consistently glossed over her own issues, and that she had a bad habit of making light of her past traumas. She had lost her whole family, in one way or another. Daddy and her older sister Willa had died during a home invasion. Waverly had only been six years-old then, but Mama had left them when she was just was four. Wynonna was gone for long periods of time, in and out of trouble, or having psychological breaks because she couldn’t manage to forgive herself for accidentally shooting Daddy instead of the bad guys. Waverly knew that her life had not been easy, but for whatever reason, she always found the strength to stay positive and forge ahead anyway. Likewise, when she saw someone hurting, and she found within herself the capacity to help them heal, she always tried to do so. 

Maybe that’s what was happening here? Nicole had been in trouble. She needed a ride. She was the new kid in town. She probably needed a friend, and it was only natural for someone like Waverly to want to fix all of that. None of that explained the awe she felt when she looked at Nicole, though. She couldn’t help but fixate on the other woman, to get lost in her beauty or strength and she wasn’t sure how to unpack what she had felt when Nicole hopped out of that truck bed like a literal badass. Nothing about that scene needed fixing, and Waverly had most definitely felt some things. She was replaying that particular scene in her mind when Wynonna finally got bored enough to talk.

“So, what happened back there, Red?” Wynonna asked, hoping to get a rise out of Nicole. Surprisingly, the younger girl was actually starting to get used to her calling her names, which kind of made it less fun, in a way. Wynonna could tell that the stranger wasn’t comfortable being touched this much, but Waverly was notoriously touchy-feely when people were sad, and Red would just have to get used to it.

“Oh, well,” she turned her head to look at the older Earp sister but fell instead into Waverly’s keen eyes, so eager to hear the story. Nicole maintained the eye contact, swallowed and continued, “I thought I had made a wrong turn, so I looked at my gps for a second. When I looked back up there were some deer standing in the road and when I tried to swerve I lost control of my jeep,” Nicole looked down at her hands, as the shame washed over her, “I uh, I guess you saw the rest.”

Waverly reached out and gently placed her hand on top of Nicole’s, “That happens a lot around here, there are deer everywhere.” Waverly knew that she should pull her hand away, but she just didn’t want to, so she kept talking, “You know, you could have been really hurt. Did you hit your head at all?’ _Oh crap. I should have asked her that right away. What if she’s got internal bleeding or something?_ Without realizing she was doing it, Waverly removed her hand from Nicole’s lap up to her chin, and gently lifted the startled woman’s face toward hers, in order to check her pupils.

Nicole’s eyebrows shot together in a mixture of shock and confusion. She must have hit her touch limit for today because she reflexively pulled her chin back from Waverly’s hand and turned to the window, embarrassed.

“Oh my gosh! I’m so sorry! I didn’t mean to, Wynonna always says I’m too touchy feely! I was checking your pupils. Are you sure you don’t need us to drop you at the ER? Concussions are tricky they ca-“

Nicole graciously interrupted Waverly’s frantic apology, “No, It’s ok.” She said over her shoulder as she stared out window. She could feel her ears turning red. “Really, I um, I-I’m just not a very touchy person. You didn’t do anything wrong, I promise. I’m good, I don’t need a hospital or anything.”

She chanced a look at Waverly who was practically sitting in Wynonna’s lap, obviously trying to give Nicole space. The distraught girl looked like a kicked puppy, as she pinched the ends of her fingers and worried her bottom lip. _Shit._ Not really knowing how to fix this, since her family didn’t use affection to comfort each other, she tried to mirror what Waverly had done for her a moment ago, and nervously reached her hand out to place it gently on Waverly’s shoulder, “Hey,” she waited for the other girl’s eyes “It’s really ok. I promise. The Haught's aren’t really huggers or anything like that, so I wasn’t expecting you to touch my face.” Nicole gave a timid shoulder raise, and another crooked smile, her big gentle brown eyes looking deeply into Waverly’s. “Seriously, um, thanks for caring. It actually means a lot.”

“Waverly! GET. OFF. ME!” Wynonna growled as she shoulder-checked Waverly a little too hard. She was SO over being smashed in her own damn truck, and more than that she was completely over the whole lets-be-best-friends-forever thing happening between her annoying passengers. The surprise shoulder-check resulted in quite an eventful chain-reaction. First off, the muffins slid off Waverly’s lap and made a bee-line for the floorboard. This caused Waverly, to reflexively reach with both hands to catch them, which resulted in her being unable to stop her forward momentum toward Nicole. Meanwhile, Nicole’s left arm slipped off Waverly’s shoulder, while her right arm also reached out to try to save the endangered pastries. The final result resembled, what could be best described as, an accidental motorboat with Waverly’s face landing squarely into Nicole’s tiddies. Wynonna lost it.

The only thing louder than the mutual apologies flying between Nicole and Waverly, was Wynonna’s hysterical laughter, which was punctuated, as usual, with the occasional snort here or there. Luckily, Nicole had managed to catch the muffins with one hand, in a feat of true coordination that Waverly would have been really impressed with, had she not been pulling her nose out of Nicole’s cleavage at the moment. Waverly was totally mortified, but happy to confirm that the yummy vanilla smell from earlier was definitely Nicole. It made a lot of sense, since the muffins she baked were chocolate.

As for Nicole, her level of gay panic, mixed with outside stressors from the day, had finally hit maximum level. Even though she had wanted to punch Wynonna Earp directly in her smartass face, since the first second she met her, she found herself starting to laugh too. Her laugher grew until she couldn’t even pretend to be upset anymore. Waverly was the last to break, shooting a glare-to-end-all-glares over her shoulder at her sister, until she turned back to see tears in Nicole’s eyes, doubled over in a laugh so hard that sound was no longer coming out.

Wynonna made some off-color joke about Nicole’s “airbags”, which sent the girls into another fit of belly laughs. When they pulled up to Purgatory High, still breathing hard and randomly bursting into giggles, Nicole, thanked Wynonna for the ride and waited until Waverly was safely out of the truck to shut the door. The two girls naturally walked side-by-side toward the front of the school until Wynnona yelled out her window “Don’t forget your backpack, Red!”

Nicole stopped mid-stride, rolled her eyes with a huff, turned, and then jogged back to get her backpack. When she walked by the driver again, she held up the middle finger that she had been holding back the whole time, and winked at an unimpressed Wynonna Earp.

Wynnona answered with a one-finger salute and two-dimple smile and thought to herself- _I kinda like her._


	8. I Got You, Red

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Waves and Nicole finally have a private conversation (probably about muffins).

Nicole fastened her eyes onto Waverly, who was standing in the distance, at the bottom of the Purgatory High stairs with the infamous container of chocolate muffins in her hands. Nicole was desperately trying not to crush on all things Waverly Earp, but she couldn’t help but melt a little at the adorable way she smiled with her whole face, and how her brilliant, kind eyes crinkled earnestly at the edges. Now that Nicole could drink her in from a distance, she was struck by just how powerful Waverly was too. Her compact body was so sharply defined with lean muscle that she had to be an athlete of some sort, and based solely on her height, she was likely a gymnast, or a dancer, or maybe a cheerleader? Cheerleader seemed most likely, and would explain the bright level of enthusiasm Waverly projected into the world around her.

Nicole blinked away her curiosity, realizing too late that she had been blatantly staring, and that Waverly’s head was turned in her exact direction. _Maybe she didn’t notice?_ Nicole continued walking toward Waverly, but chanced a quick glance over her shoulder, in an effort to pinpoint exactly who the other girl was smiling at.

Girls like Waverly Earp usually had lots of friends, and with that realization, Nicole felt something like loss settle into her chest. She reminded herself that despite their eventful morning, she and Waverly weren’t actually friends in any real sense of the word. Nicole was just the girl that needed to be rescued from the roadside. She was the new girl, who still didn't have a ride home today. She dropped her head and reached up to rub the back of her neck, disheartened. She would have to disconnect herself from the idea that Waverly was more than just another stranger in this new town, and so she tried to center herself back to reality. The last thing she needed, was to fall for the prettiest, straightest girl in school, before she even made it through the front doors. 

Waverly had just witnessed Nicole flip her sister off. She had wholeheartedly adored EVERY moment of that interaction and was still laughing to herself, when she saw the gorgeous redhead look up, and walk toward her, in long languid strides. Nicole was smirking about something, and had both hands in her pockets, and Waverly felt the same way she did when Nicole jumped in and out of the truck-bed that morning. Her reactions to Nicole were very…intense. She had to admit that since the moment she had seen Nicole walking down the highway, she had been so much more than curious. What was it about Nicole that made Waverly want to know every detail? Why did it feel like she would never get tired of listening to her tell stories, or seeing her smile, or watching her give Wynonna a run for her money? _Her walk._

Nicole’s walk deserved slow motion and a soundtrack, and Waverly realized in that moment, that her new friend radiated the kind of confident individuality that you usually only saw in rock stars, actresses and pro athletes. She oozed mystery, and power, and rebellion, and sex, like it was her job. On top of that, she didn’t care if anyone noticed her. She wasn’t looking for anyone’s attention. Nicole knew exactly who she was, and she refused to put on a show. Honestly, why would she have to try at all? All she had to do was show up with those big, soft, puppy eyes, that distinctive fire-red hair, those ridiculous dimples and let's not forget- her completely unfair, impossibly long, curvy, Hollywood-level legs. _Let's have a moment of silence for the boys in this school._ Waverly sighed aloud, because Nicole Haught was, well, **HOT** , and probably didn’t even realize it. _Not fair._

Just then, Waverly watched as something dark washed over Nicole’s face- something that looked a lot like pain. Waverly’s suspicions were confirmed when she saw Nicole reach up to rub the back of her neck. Waves waited for the pain to subside, but when Nicole kept her head down, she got worried. Even with her chin lowered like this, the trademarked Nicole sadness was clear to see on her face. In an instant the sexy-model-rock-star was gone, and the vulnerable high school girl stood in her place. Waverly couldn’t stand it. She set the muffins down on one of the steps, jogged over to Nicole, quickly hooking her arm into the taller girl’s, and then tugging gently until Nicole's amber-speckled brown eyes met her own. “Hey you. What’s wrong? Are you hurt? Is your neck bothering you?” Nicole looked down at her, startled by the sudden contact, and amazed at the relentless kindness. 

_Oh crap!_ Waverly flashed back to the moment in the truck when Nicole said that her family wasn’t much for hugging. _I did it again!_ Waverly moved quickly to undo her mistake, and unhook her arm, but Nicole squeezed Waverly tighter against her ribs on reflex.

Some piece of Nicole desperately wanted the contact and the reassurance that she wasn’t alone, even if the contact felt too intimate. She needed to be tethered to this person who, in one morning, had shown more concern for her than her family had in years. For now, for this tiny moment, all that mattered was that some part of her was touching some part of Waverly.

“I’m fine. I think I’m just nervous, ya know, first day.” Nicole admitted softly, as she looked away, ashamed at her own weakness. She was just too scared to look Waverly in the eyes. Just then, the tiny, wonderful, ball of comfort named Waverly Earp, proceeded to melt into Nicole’s side, exactly as she had done in the truck and when Waverly added her left hand on top of Nicole’s forearm, giving it a subtle, gentle squeeze; all was right with the world. Nicole felt herself relax into the touch.

“Aww, c’mon, don’t be nervous.” Soft hazel eyes and a shy little grin greeted Nicole, “You're with me! I got you, RED.”

Nicole snapped her head up, pretending to be scandalized, “Waverly Earp!!!” she scolded, despite the smile breaking through. “RED?!? Really? Not you too!!!” She made a show of rolling her eyes dramatically, and playfully nudging the smaller woman with her elbow.

Waverly thrilled at the sound of her name coming from Nicole’s mouth, impressed that she had actually remembered her last name, and beyond happy that Nicole's darkness had lifted again. She felt accomplished, because Nicole had snapped back to being just as playful as she had been with Wynonna, and Waverly had been more than a little jealous of their instant comradery. She desperately wanted Nicole to think she was as cool as her rebellious big sister and she coveted the easy banter she had felt between the two of them. She also wanted to keep the lighthearted momentum going, because those dimples made her feel things she wasn’t ready to articulate. She quickly popped off with another quip, “Um, you totally AIR BAGGED me, Nicole Haught! I think I earned the right to call you whatever I want!”

Nicole’s mouth fell open as she stood speechless for a second. Then, like a switch flipping inside of her, she felt her competitive side engage. She was infamous in the Haught household for being a completely different person when challenged, and this was no exception. _Game on._ She felt the smirk hit her mouth and shivered a little at the familiar rush of adrenaline she felt surging through her veins. God she loved a good debate, so she was unaware of the mischievous glint in her own eyes, as she replied matter-of-factly, “Technically, Ms. Earp, you ‘air bagged’ ME.”

Waverly swallowed. She could feel the shift in Nicole’s mood, and she wasn't entirely prepared for the effect it was having on her. She felt frozen in place by the challenge in Nicole's eyes, and her heart was racing. _Why did I bring up the air bags?_ She shook off the frozen feeling and threw her shoulders back, because she was a freaking Earp and if she could handle Wynonna, then she could definitely handle Blushy McHaughtAss!

“Nu-uh!” She protested loudly, closing her eyes and shaking her head side-to-side, “I most certainly did not!” Waverly lifted her chin defiantly and squeezed Nicole’s forearm as a warning. _That’s right honey, Mama didn’t raise no bitch._ Waverly cringed at herself for cursing twice, even if it was internally, and she could have kicked herself for using one of Wynonna’s stupid one-liners. _Focus, Waverly! You have a fake argument to win!_

Nicole smiled down at her, dimples on full display. 

_Challenge accepted._ Nicole bit the corner of her lip as she stared through her lashes, directly into Waverly’s eyes, lowering her voice and adding a little extra breath to the words, “No, you TOTALLY did.” She saw Waverly's eyes go wide and felt a small shiver from the other woman. Encouraged by the reaction, she unhooked their arms and turned her body so that they were face-to-face, and close enough that the six or so inches of height difference was properly emphasized. Nicole leaned back just enough to slowly and painstakingly rake her eyes down Waverly's impeccable body. She wet her lips with her tongue and raised an appreciative eyebrow on the way back up as she resumed eye contact.

Waverly gulped and immediately blushed. She felt her eyes widen and her breath rush over her bottom lip. _What is happening right now?_ She stared speechless up at Nicole's clearly-satisfied face. She didn't know that Nicole was fighting incredibly hard not to lose her nerve, but what she did know was that she was really, _really_ , starting to like this game. Her thundering pulse had started in her chest, but was inching lower and lower with each passing moment, and she felt her knees weaken when Nicole leaned in, closer than was polite.

“You’re welcome for the soft landing.” She dragged the word “soft” out longer than she had to, and then made a point to look down at her own chest, drawing Waverly’s eyes to the airbags in question. _JACKPOT_!

It was at this exact moment that Waverly knew she had made a serious mistake. She had grossly underestimated Nicole. Based on the morning’s interactions, she had pegged her for laid back, shy, and awkward, and never in a million years, did she think that Nicole had this level of evil seductress lurking within her. Waverly’s eyes caught on Nicole’s dark pink, recently wet, and very full lips, and she marveled at how the “f” in the word “soft” made her thighs clench. The way Nicole had run her eyes slowly down her body had made Waverly feel naked, right there on the school stairs, and now she watched in blissful horror as Nicole looked down at the very, _very_ soft, warm, vanilla scented, spot that her face had landed earlier. She almost closed her eyes at the memory, when she realized that she was still staring at Nicole’s boobs, and her mouth was hanging open like a goldfish. She shut her mouth with a click, blinked a couple of times, and looked up awkwardly at the clouds. _What was THAT?!?_ _Oh God. What WAS that?!?_ Waverly was dying a thousand embarrassing deaths when Nicole spoke again, drawing her reluctant eyes and her full attention back to the conversation at hand.

“If anyone has earned the right to something, it's me, Waverly,” she wiggled both eyebrows playfully and winked. “I think I deserve a damn muffin!” She demanded, trying to sound irritated. She held up her index finger, “Number one, I let you get to second base.” Waverly’s mouth dropped open again with a sharp, scandalized intake of air.

"Nuh...Whaa?" Waverly stuttered but Nicole wasn’t done.

“Number two,” Nicole raised a second finger, “I saved them with one hand tied behind my back!!! I caught them with ONE HAND! I rescued your muffins! A muffin for a motorboat seems like a fair trade to me!” Nicole winked, and then couldn’t stay in character any longer. She busted out laughing, and gently grabbed Waverly’s arm, making sure the stunned girl knew that she was only messing around. The thought didn’t escape her, that she hadn’t hesitated to return Waverly's arm to its rightful place, this time. She felt a flutter in her stomach at the soft warmth tucked up around her arm and against her side.

Nicole was joking, and Waverly had never been so relieved in her life. She giggled nervously, accepting Nicole's arm hug and dropping her head quickly onto Nicole’s shoulder. “FINE. You earned a darn muffin,” she said, squeezing Nicole's arm affectionately once, before letting go.

Nicole felt the absence of her touch immediately. She had made the choice to let go of Waverly before, but this time losing the contact reminded her of the first drop on a roller coaster, like the exact moment when your connection to the ground is severed and fear takes its place. Nicole's adrenaline was waning. She had won the exchange but she could feel the chemical bravery was fading fast, as she watched Waverly walk quickly toward the stairs and bend down to scoop up the muffin container. Reality struck. _I cannot believe I just did that. Was it just me or…? For a minute there…? No, I’m making it up. Shit, I hope I didn't scare her?_ Nicole's post-flirt anxiety was interrupted abruptly.

“Earp!!!", someone exclaimed from the sidewalk to their left. Waverly spun her head around, with a big smile already in place, having immediately recognized the voice. A striking girl with caramel skin, long dark hair and even darker eyes was walking toward Waverly, and Nicole couldn't help but note that she looked like she kicked ass for a living. _Is everyone at this school ripped?_ Nicole did a double-take, literally, because suddenly there were two of them. _Twins?_

"Mats!" Waverly abandoned the muffins and excitedly jogged up to the girl, dressed in all black, from her backwards baseball cap and worn-out backpack, all the way down to her combat boots. Instead of the hug that Nicole expected these friends to exchange, Waverly reached her hand out and initiated a series of complex and clearly practiced hand gestures that ended with a shoulder bump and a giggle. Nicole was instantly and irrationally jealous.

The other sister, who was decked out in full hair and makeup, still just as dangerous, but in a mean girl kind of way, was looking pretty in a pastel patterned mini-dress. Girly sister made her way to the other two. She curtly nodded her head at Waverly, then mumbled something to her sister, and headed up the stairs without another glance. When Nicole looked back, Waverly and the dark and stormy, Rosario Dawson look-a-like were grinning at each other and making small talk. When the conversation became suddenly solemn, Nicole couldn’t help but strain to listen in.

"...out for the season. It's awful." Waverly was looking down at her own hands, pinching the ends of her fingers for comfort.

"Shit." Combat boots blew out a harsh deep breath and looked up at the sky.

Waverly matched her sigh, "I know. She's on crutches, I'm gonna stay close by today for moral support, OH! And I made muffins!"

The girl in black laughed, and it was a warm sound, deeper than Nicole had expected it to be. "Leave it to you Waves. Got us stress eating before the season even gets started!” She paused, but only for a moment, “I mean…If you insist though?" the taller girl wiggled her eyebrows suggestively, and offered Waverly a two-dollar smile, "You know I got a thing for muffins." Waverly let out a short laugh, but then pursed her lips and raised an eyebrow.

"What is it with the muffin jokes today? You're as bad as Wynonna." 

The girls exchanged a few more words and Nicole resigned herself to the idea that she has been forgotten about. She scolded herself for getting her hopes up about Waverly, and felt the familiar chill of isolation settle back into its well-worn space within her heart. After the aloneness came the embarrassment, like a tiny thread of shame that wound around her hope and made her want to hide away. She had an irrational need to get as much distance from Waverly Earp as she could. Nicole tucked her chin down, gripped the straps of her backpack with both hands and walked with a purpose toward the stairs and the front door of the school.

_Shake it off, Haught. At least you’ll have a funny story to tell Sam._ Nicole was good at being alone, and she had been the new kid enough to know that she would be probably be lonely for a few weeks, but eventually, she’d find someone to at least eat lunch with. _Shit,_ she remembered then that she still hadn't heard from her mother, and The Duck was still face down in a ditch. Her mom would eventually see the text and voicemail, right? She glanced one last time at the beautiful, kind, funny stranger that had helped her forget her bullshit life for a little while, and then made her way up the stairs.

Waverly reached down and picked up the plastic container, opening the lid for Mattie Perley to take her pick. She caught movement out of the corner of her eye, specifically redheaded movement, and turned to see Nicole walking toward the stairs with her head down again. _She's going to love Mattie._ “Nicole!” No response. _Wait, is she going in without me?_

"NICOLE!" she shouted a little louder this time. The determined looking girl, who had already made it halfway up the stairs, froze and slowly turned her head. Everything about the movement reminded her of Wynonna, and how she reacted when she got caught sneaking out, or stealing from the liquor cabinet at Aunt Gus and Uncle Curtis’ house. Waverly's eyebrows drew together. _Something's not right_. She turned to Mattie and gestured for her to hold on for a second, and then quickly closed the distance between her and Nicole. "Hey, where's the fire? Muffin for a motorboat, remember?" Waverly wiggled her eyebrows.

Nicole looked down at her feet, with a shy grin. Shy Nicole was the absolute worst thing for Waverly’s self-control. She immediately wanted to touch her again, but Waverly couldn’t bear to scare her. "Look at me, Haught." It took a moment, but when their eyes tentatively met, Waverly nearly gasped at the raw vulnerability hiding inside of those bottomless brown eyes. The darkness was back again. Waverly closed her eyes and took a deep breath, because it took a substantial amount of willpower not to reach for that strand of red hair that had fallen out of place. She took measures to suppress the instinct, and awkwardly clasped her hands tightly together in front of herself as she bounced nervously on the balls of her feet. Her voice came out slightly higher pitched than intended when she said, "Wanna meet one of my friends?" She waited impatiently as Nicole's mind processed the request. She could tell that Nicole was trying to decide, but she also didn't want the sadness to win again, so despite her better judgment she hooked her arm in Nicole's and dragged her gently back down the stairs. "C'mon Red, you are gonna love Mattie!"

Nicole was trying to wrap her mind around the fact that by some miracle, Waverly was touching her AGAIN, and that she was a pretty shitty person for thinking that someone as sweet as Waverly Earp would let the new girl off that easy. The her cheeks ached a little at the smile that formed, and she happily let Waverly drag her to the girl in black. Nicole had sensed that Mattie was the kind of girl that respected strength, so she squared her shoulders, standing tall, and allowed her face to fall into the neutral expression. She kept her eyes on Waverly while she began the introductions.

"Mattie Perley, meet Nicole Haught. She’s new. Today is her first day.” Nicole turned, prepared to meet Mattie's eyes for the first time and offer her hand, but Mattie's eyes were occupied elsewhere. Nicole's right eyebrow crept upward at the audacity of the girl who was, full-on, checking her out, with a wildly arrogant smirk plastered to her face. Now she knew how Waverly must have felt. _Karma_.

This wasn't Nicole's first rodeo. As a nearly six-foot-tall, curvy redhead, she was no stranger to being checked out, but she had never seen this particular look of admiration on a woman's face before. _Interesting._

"Haught huh? That tracks. Nice to meet you." Mattie offered a hand and Nicole took it with a dimpled smile.

"Back atcha, Perley." Nicole took her time sizing up Mattie now, and was pleased to see a light dusting of pink reach the other girls cheeks. _I like this school already._


	9. Dear Heavenly Lesbian Jesus

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mattie and Nicole feel each other out, Waverly gets a case of the jellies, & backstories galore.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Content Warning: References to physical abuse & bullying

“So, um…where ya from, Nicole?” Mattie was really trying to recover from the look Nicole had just given her, but was finding it difficult to do so, probably because her insides were screaming. _Oh my god! She’s gay. She’s HOT and I’m pretty sure she's a little gay._ Mattie was struggling to breathe as she prayed internally to the powers that be. _Dear heavenly lesbian Jesus, please, please, please, let her be into girls!_ While she waited for Nicole to answer the question, she took another visual fieldtrip down the new girl’s body, focusing _mostly_ on her outfit this time. _Flannel? Check. Converse? Check. Tight band t-shirt? MhhhhMMMmm._

Ok, was Mattie whole-ass staring at Nicole’s rack? Yes. Was she gawking at the new girl’s goods? Also yes, but c’mon, the redheaded Amazonian goddess standing in front of her deserved, _no required,_ a moment or two of adoration. Suddenly, it registered, in the furthest corner of Mattie’s malfunctioning brain, that the question she had originally asked Nicole had long since been answered, and now it was her turn to say words out loud. “Cool, cool, cool. Springfield? That’s a couple of hours away, right?” Mattie eye’s refused to move from their spot on Nicole’s chest.

“Yup.” Nicole popped the "p" at the end of the word and held back a laugh. She was low-key impressed at how brazen Mattie was being right now. She tracked Mattie’s eyes down to the front of her own t-shirt, laughing to herself. _Well, she’s either a boob girl, or she REALLY likes the Pretenders._ That thought made Nicole laugh out loud, as she moved her hand to block Mattie’s line of sight and used her thumb to point up toward her face. It worked, and Mattie’s eyes landed on Nicole’s amused, but knowing smirk.

 _Oh hell._ Mattie didn't miss the laughter hiding behind Nicole’s soft dark eyes. _You know what? Fuck it. Sorry, not sorry._ Mattie pretended like she hadn’t just been drooling over Nicole’s curves and continued with the conversation. “So, uh, did you lose a bet or something? Why in god’s name would you move to Purgatory?” _Oops, that came out a little meaner than I intended it to. “_ Um, not that I mind, I mean, we are happy to have you.”

Nicole rolled her eyes and shook her head side to side, with a smile. _This girl is something else, man._ Amusement colored her voice as she answered, “My dad’s the new pastor at Purgatory Assembly, and trust me, this wasn’t my idea.” Nicole’s smile faltered for a split second, and she looked down at the ground briefly, “But, uh, nice boots though.” She tilted her head toward Mattie’s combat boots.

Mattie panicked a little, because she hadn’t meant to be religiously insensitive, or whatever. _Shit_. _Pastor? She’s religious. Ok… so probably NOT gay then?_ _Fuck._ “Oh, thanks! Hey, uh…’ she kept her eyes locked onto her own shoes for a moment, “Listen, I’m sorry about the whole ‘god’s name’ thing. I didn’t mean to be offensive or anything,” she apologized.

Nicole giggled at the apology, drawing a hopeful look from Mattie. “It’s kind of funny, actually.” She shrugged nonchalantly, “Don’t worry about it. You don’t have to censor yourself around me.” Nicole smiled warmly, and looked intently into Mattie’s eyes. Some part of her was curious as to whether or not she could get another blush out of the flustered girl. Turns out that she could, and she did.

Mattie felt paralyzed by Nicole’s prolonged eye contact. _Yep. Gay. Final answer._ Her face felt way too warm, and she caught herself grinning like a complete idiot. Mattie also had an overwhelming urge to look away from Nicole’s ridiculous anime-character-eyes, because she was pretty sure that Haught’s super power was being able to look straight through her soul. _Damn._ She knew she needed to keep this conversation from stalling out, but she couldn’t maintain the eye contact anymore, so she nodded quickly at Nicole’s shirt. “So, uh, the Pretenders, huh?”

Nicole looked down at her chest again and then back up to Mattie with a raised eyebrow and a slight challenge in her eyes. _Ha!_ With a wicked smile and some added innuendo, Nicole replied, “Mhm. Yep. You seem to be QUITE the fan.”

Mattie’s eyes went wide, and she nervously licked her lips. _Oh, honey you have no idea_. She quickly looked away and shoved her hands in her back pockets. “Oh yeah, man. Big fan. Love ‘em. So, uh, anyway- Welcome to Purg High, I guess.” Mattie rocked back on her heels nervously, not sure if she wanted to die of excitement or embarrassment.

Nicole gave another quick laugh at the adorable nervous energy radiating off Mattie, and reflexively reached up to tuck her thumbs under her backpack straps. “Thanks, Mattie. It really is nice to meet you.”

***

Waverly was definitely NOT ok with this, _whatever it was,_ thing that was happening between Nicole and Mattie. She was also trying to process that Nicole was apparently a pastor’s daughter. It was surprising, because Nicole didn’t act like a goody-two-shoes or anything, you know, what with the cursing, and the middle fingers, and the unholy ability to make everyone with eyeballs want to climb her like a tree. On one hand, it was good to know that Nicole’s powers worked on other people too, but on the other hand, she couldn’t believe that Mattie was trying to dive directly into her pants, _literally_ _like_ two seconds after meeting her! 

Mattie’s behavior was out of control, and frankly, more than a little pervy, even for her. Also, she couldn’t tell if Nicole was just being a good sport or what? Nicole just couldn’t be that oblivious to her own attractiveness, right? _Oh God, was she purposely flirting with Mattie?_ Waverly was overwhelmed with too many new feelings, and everything was happening way too fast. She was certain of one thing though, every single millisecond Mattie had ogled Nicole, made her want to rage.

Mattie was a notorious flirt, and she was usually harmless, but staring like that was completely inappropriate, and Waverly was beyond furious. Seriously, poor Nicole! She had a terrible morning, by anyone’s standards, and now she was being visually assaulted? Unacceptable. Waverly closed her eyes and forcibly breathed through her temper.

She reminded herself that Mattie was the only out, queer kid at Purgatory High, and it hadn’t been easy for her, not by a long shot. Mattie was very open and confident about her sexuality, _clearly_ , but Waverly had not forgotten how angry Mattie had been in middle school, or how sharply her behavior had changed compared to her elementary school years.

The Perley twins were completely inseparable back then, the perfect matching pair. They had been the stereotypical identical twins, complete with matching haircuts, fru-fru outfits, accessories and everything. Waverly had taken dozens of dance classes with them and they had been on the same team for practically every sport offered in the area. Even now, she was connected to the girls, since Mattie was on the basketball team and Gretta was her co-captain on the cheerleading squad.

Waverly flashed back to that fateful afternoon, in the 6th grade, when she found Mattie sobbing uncontrollably in the stairwell after school. Gretta had found her sister’s diary and read it aloud in the locker room, in front of the entire gym class. Waves and Mats had gym earlier in the day, so neither of them had witnessed the betrayal first hand, but the rumors blasted their way through the entire school within a matter of minutes. Mattie Perley was gay, and her twin sister hated her for it.

Mattie had already ditched the ribbons and bows, and was wearing mostly black by then, but after the diary incident, she withdrew almost entirely. The guys at school started calling her “Matthew,” and being relentlessly crude, and Mattie had basically stopped speaking at all, save for the occasional, notoriously vicious, public arguments with her sister. Waverly’s heart had shattered for Mattie. She couldn’t imagine that level of betrayal from her sister. Sure, Wynonna was a royal pain-in-the-ass, most of the time, but she ALWAYS had Wave’s back when it really mattered. Waverly had been overwhelmed with compassion for Mattie from the moment it happened, so she did the only thing that knew how to do; she fought for Mattie’s friendship.

It must have worked a little bit, because slowly but surely, thanks to ridiculous amounts of pure bravery on Mattie’s part, and the love and support from Coach Gus and the basketball team, Mattie Perley grew into the fearless, authentic, and hilariously free human being she was today. _Ugh, FINE._ Mattie probably didn’t mean to be so aggressive with Nicole. Nevertheless, she was still going to give her a stern talking to for being so extra. Waverly scooted closer to Nicole, and gave Mattie a serious, think-twice look.

***

“Nedley!” Mattie abruptly shouted over Nicole’s shoulder.

“Perley!” A pleasant voice floated over toward them. Nicole wasn’t sure if she should turn around too, so she found Waverly’s intense hazel eyes. Nicole lifted her eyebrows and raised her right shoulder slightly toward her ear. Her eyes asking the question, _what’s next?_

Waverly felt warmth spread through her body, every single time their eyes met. This time, Nicole’s eyes were soft and vulnerable, and Waverly was not surprised at all to feel the corner of her mouth tick upward into a smile. She had recognized Chrissy’s voice instantly, and she needed to check on her, but she wasn’t ready to let Nicole go yet, so she held the Tupperware container out, like an offering, to the girl with the eyes that made her ache.

“Nicole, would you mind holding the muffins for me? I still owe you one, if I recall?” She spoke sweetly and smiled shyly, “Be right back. I’m going to check on my friend Chrissy.” She thumbed toward a tallish blonde girl on crutches who was throwing them both a very confused look. “Oh, and uh,” Waverly stepped forward and lowered her voice, tilting her head to look up at Nicole. She had nothing but sincerity etched across her delicate features when she lightly placed her hand on Nicole’s forearm, “I’m sorry about Mattie. I promise she’s not usually that, um… friendly?”

Nicole held the chocolate muffins with a crooked smile, “Friendly huh? Is that what you guys call it around here?” She looked down and back up, then smiled with her whole face at Waverly Earp. Damn it. She just couldn’t help it.

Waverly scrunched her nose and shrugged her shoulders before catching up with Mattie, who was already on her way to see Chrissy. Nicole sighed as she watched Waverly walk away. She felt her phone vibrate in her back pocket.

<*BESTIE*> You dead?

<NICOLE> Yes.

<*BESTIE*> Smartass. Did your parents rescue you yet?

<NICOLE> No, but I hitched a ride with a random trucker, and all I had to do was let em touch my tata's!

<*BESTIE*> LOL. Please tell me you’re joking? #luckytruckertho

Nicole took a selfie of herself and the muffin container, careful to get the Purgatory High School sign in the shot too.

<NICOLE> It’s a WHOLE story, trust me. Oh, and now I’m standing in front of my new school holding a girl’s “muffins”. LOL <image.130>

<*BESTIE*> WTF kind of town is this!?! Awwwe! You look like such a happy little nugget. You are gonna make me cry man, I miss you so much. I was legit worried about you this morning.

<NICOLE> LOL! I’m fine. So far so good, I guess? Thanks for worrying about me but I’m ok. Promise. GTG

<*BESTIE*> I expect a full report tonight. Love You!!!

<NICOLE> Love you back

Nicole smiled absentmindedly and slid her phone back into her pocket. Using her now freed hand to stabilize the muffins, she instinctively began to scan the courtyard for Waverly. Her eyes landed on their intended target, who was trying to talk Chrissy into letting her carry her backpack. When Waverly’s insistence to help was rebuffed by the injured girl, Nicole watched as she put both hands, in fists, on her hips and leaned forward menacingly. Waverly was definitely a cheerleader. _A sexy, bossy, adorable, helpful, little cheerleader._

Nicole reveled in the opportunity to observe Waverly without all the undue pressure of having to look into her eyes. She was really in her element with these girls, completely comfortable and at ease. They must all be very close to each other, and had probably been friends for years. Nicole’s eyes wandered. _Lord, her legs are ILLEGAL in those denim shorts._ She swallowed and took a few small steps closer to the growing group of girls, hoping to catch a deeper glimpse into the friend group.

Waverly had managed to win the backpack battle with Chrissy, and was now triumphantly holding said bag in her left hand, while she ran her other hand quickly and reassuringly around the middle of Chrissy’s back. Nicole hyper-focused on act, but immediately scolded herself for the wave of jealousy that washed over her.

Until this morning, Nicole would have said that she hated to be touched, and the people closest to her would have readily confirmed that fact. Now, watching Waverly’s perfect hands circle delicately on the other girl’s back, she wasn’t so sure anymore. Generous and compassionate little Waverly Earp had sidled up next to Nicole this morning, in Wynonna’s old beat up truck, and instead of the anxiety and fear that she normally felt when someone got too close, Nicole had felt connectivity and comfort.

She just instinctively trusted Waverly’s touch, even though she had only just met her. Nicole didn’t completely know it yet, but that tiny sliver of trust is what had shifted something fundamental inside of her core. In her deepest place, she had this inexplicable knowing that Waverly was a safe place, and she couldn’t shake the knowing, she couldn’t discredit it, because at the end of the day, it wasn’t tangible or logical. It WAS real though, and it was terrifying to feel something so permanent snap into place so abruptly, especially for someone like Nicole.

It was no secret that both of her parents were heavy-handed when it came to punishing their kids. Her father was a big believer in corporal punishment, having preached many a sermon on the topic of parenting and ‘raising godly leaders’. Reverend Haught was an outspoken advocate in favor of spanking children when they misbehaved, and he was quick to quote the “spare the rod and spoil the child” scripture to anyone who would listen.

It would take too many hands to count up the number of times her mother had slapped her across the face because she had spoken out of turn, and she could recall almost as many times that her father had announced, “go get the belt” when she stepped out of line. On top of that, her parents just weren’t affectionate people, as a general rule. Nicole had her theories as to why that was, but in the end, some combination of these factors had left her sort of broken, and afraid to be touched. That’s why this morning was so... disorienting.

Nicole honestly couldn’t remember ever being able to relax into a hug, and she knew it was noticeable to other people when she pulled away from the absentminded sort of touches that seemed so prevalent between friends her age. She, herself, was equally hesitant to offer physical affection to other people, even if she logically knew that it would soothe them or help them cope. She had not actually felt weird or broken until she had gotten close to her best friend Sam.

About six months after they had become friends, Sam showed up at her house, one night, crying. Her grandfather had passed away, after a painful battle with cancer, and she had just gotten home from his funeral. Nicole was used to Sam walking over to her house anytime she wanted to hang out, but this particular time, as soon as Nicole opened the door, Sammie launched into her for a hug. Nicole had rolled instinctively out of the hug, immediately creating space, and distancing herself physically, even though she cared so deeply for her friend.

It wasn’t that she didn’t want to be kind or comforting. Nicole wasn’t a monster, and she had absolutely felt the pain emanating out of Sam, but she just didn’t know how to hold or be held. The look of rejection on Sam’s face had broken Nicole’s heart in two. She could tell that denying her that hug had hurt the poor girl even more, but she had felt so much anxiety that she just reacted on instinct.

Nicole was proud of herself for what she was able to give Sam that night, though. Yes, she wasn’t capable of hugging her best friend, but she was able to lead her gently to the kitchen table and wrap her in a warm fuzzy blanket. Nicole had kept Sam talking while she made a cup of hot cocoa that had more marshmallows than milk in it. Then, after about an hour, when Sam tentatively reached across the table for Nicole’s hand, she was finally able to hold it. Thinking back now, she remembered how Sam’s hand had made tears well up in her own eyes and it was the first time Nicole had cried since she was a little girl.

“Earth to Haught-Shit. Come in Haught-Ass.”

Nicole blinked at Mattie’s hand waving in front of her face, and looked up to see the dark-haired girl’s big, bright, toothy smile. Mattie really was a knock-out, even if she was a punk. Nicole huffed with laughter, and her heart swelled just a little, because someone was already making fun of her last name, and that was a very good sign. She decided to return the favor. “Oh sorry there, Perley Whites. You must have caught me day-dreaming.”

Mattie had already followed Nicole’s eyes to where Waverly was still standing with Chrissy. _Of course, the only other remotely queer chick at this school is already crushing on Waverly Earp. Perfect._ Mattie’s chest hurt at the thought, but she was used to disappointment. “Nice one RedHot. Suuuuuper original.” Mattie made a show of rolling her eyes, and Nicole pretended to be upset that Mattie had rejected the nickname. “So, Earp sent me to drag your ass over there because any minute the other girls on the team will find out that Waves made chocolate muffins, and that means you are no longer safe on your own. C’mon.”

Nicole took a deep breath, steeled her resolve and put on her game face. _Here we go._ “Lead the way Mats.”


	10. Muffins?!?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Let's meet the players.

"Who’s the supermodel?” Chrissy threw a nod toward the red-haired girl that Waverly had been consistently glancing back at, every few seconds, since the moment she and Mattie had walked over. Waves was having a particularly hard time focusing this morning, and Mattie was even worse, because the normally stone-cold, sarcastic and unaffected Perley twin had a MAJOR case of lust-face at the moment. Mattie's issue was apparent, but Chrissy was becoming increasingly concerned about Waverly’s level of anxiety over the new girl. How did they know each other? Why hadn't she mentioned this person? Chrissy’s protective instincts regarding Waverly were poised and ready to engage.

“RIGHT?!?!” Waverly exhaled, “Whew, I'm so glad its not just me! She's like, GORGEOUS.” The nervous excitement that Waverly had been internalizing all morning came rushing out, as she twisted her whole upper body toward Nicole for a better view, and absently ran her free hand up and down her forearm. “She's all beautiful and mysterious and EDGY. Plus her hair.” Waverly blinked and turned her head back toward Chrissy, hugging herself a little as she lowered her voice to almost a whisper, “She’s like seriously intimidating, too, Chris. She’s all tall and cool and fu-“

“Waves.” Chrissy snapped her fingers in front of Waverly’s face as she said her name, hoping to knock her out of her little gush-fest. _Holy fangirl mode._ She had never seen Waverly this… smitten? “Geez, CRUSH much, Earp? I was literally JUST asking what her name was.”

“Oh. PFFT! No! I don’t have a crush, silly. I just…” Waverly did the thing where she closed her eyes and shook her head quickly, trying to re-focus. “…uh, her name is Nicole, today is her first day,” she abruptly grabbed Chrissy’s arm in desperation, “Oh my god it’s her first day! I forgot! Um, let me go get her, I’ll just introduce you guys, that will be easier.” Waverly spun around to go get Nicole, but Mattie’s hand clamped down on her shoulder and stopped her in her tracks.

“I got this one, Earp. Besides, I called dibs on that first muffin.” Mattie wiggled her eyebrows, and paused just long enough to see that Waves really hadn’t lightened up about the muffin jokes yet _. Tough crowd._ She held up both hands, hoping to stave off what looked like a incoming scolding from Waverly, and quickly zoomed away toward Nicole. She left Waves standing with one hand on her hip, and the other one holding Chrissy’s backpack. Her eyes were narrowed and her lips were in a particularly thin, tight line.

 _Yikes._ Chrissy knew that look. Mattie was in for a serious lecture from Waverly at some point today. Chrissy smiled sweetly down at her feisty little friend _,_ hoping to soften her grumpy mood.“Well, I see that Mattie is EXTRA friendly today.” Chrissy couldn’t help but laugh under her breath as she patted Waverly on the shoulder, “So, who is the mystery girl Waves? How do you know her? What did I miss, and why is she holding your muffins?”

“Muffins?!?” Stephanie Jones and Beth Gardner said, almost in unison, as they walked up to greet Chrissy.

“Mhm! Chocolate!” Waverly chirped while beaming a thousand-watt smile.

“Ugh. Least favorite.” Beth derided. The comment earned her a warning look from Chrissy, but she couldn't care less. Secretly, she reveled in the fact that she had made the littlest Earp’s shoulders sag. She rolled her eyes and pretended to inspect her flawless manicure, because she was wholly convinced that Chrissy Nedley was entirely too worried about precious little Waverly’s feelings, anyway.

Stephanie piped in, “Yeah, sorry Waves, but I’m more of a blueberry girl. Chocolate is for brownies, but I totally skipped breakfast today though, so I guess I'll take one.” Steph apprehensively looked up at Beth, gauging whether or not her bestie was going to be mad at her for deciding to try one of Waverly's muffins. It was no secret that Beth Gardner had zero patience for the Earp sisters, and that she felt specifically irritated by anything Waverly said or did.

Beth threw an annoyed look at Steph, but was immediately distracted by Mattie Perley and some random ginger, making their way over to the group. _What in the hell was all this?_ Mattie’s gay was showing even more than usual today, and her new girlfriend, or whatever she was, looked like an overly pale, too-tall, hipster wannabe. _Annoying._ Beth had no interest in playing nice with people today.

“Ooooh, Dibs on Beth's!” Mattie announced as she and Nicole officially joined the circle. She rubbed her hands together in anticipation and clapped Nicole across the back, for emphasis. “Let’s get into these bad boys, shall we?”

Nicole jolted a little at the unexpected gesture, but recovered quickly, and carefully pushed the container of muffins out toward Waverly with a ‘help me’ look on her face. She was feeling an awful lot like a grocery store sample-pusher, instead of the ‘confident new girl’ that she had psyched herself up to be before they walked over. Unfortunately, Waverly seemed to be completely unresponsive. The loveable little baker was smiling up at Nicole with big soft hazel eyes, which Nicole definitely appreciated, but Waverly looked like someone had pressed the pause button on her, because she didn’t seem to notice the muffins, or Mattie, or anything else. She just stared, leaving Nicole to slowly die of awkwardness. Mercifully, someone else stepped in to save the day.

“Here, let me help you with those.” Chrissy said as she started to move her left crutch from under her arm, in order to reach for the container. Waverly finally snapped out of it.

“Oh gosh! I’m sorry. Chrissy, no! Um, here, let me just-” Waverly dropped Chrissy’s bag gently on the ground and stepped in front of Nicole, with an apology written across her face. Waves could have grabbed any other unoccupied portion of the plastic container for leverage and stability, but for reasons unknown, she instead, placed her hand directly on top of Nicole’s warm, soft fingers. She used her other hand to awkwardly pry the lid off as she peeked up into Nicole’s eyes, checking to see if the unnecessary contact was ok. Waverly was beyond relieved to see that those bottomless brown eyes were smiling back at her. More importantly, Nicole hadn't flinched at all this time. Some tightly coiled thing inside of Waverly unraveled and practically purred at the idea that Nicole was beginning to trust her. Her heart skipped a beat.

Mattie muscled her way in as soon as the lid as off, grabbing a muffin for each hand, and biting into one of them before she even had the decency to move out of the way. The black-haired girl moaned dramatically around a mouthful of chocolate ecstasy, “Damn Earp, these things SLAP!”

Waverly giggled and rolled her eyes, grabbing a muffin each for Chrissy and Steph, who had nearly identical reactions to Mattie's, minus the word ‘slap’. Waverly couldn’t help but preen at how much everyone was enjoying her labor of love. She locked eyes with Nicole, and pointed down to one of the remaining muffins. Nicole nodded her approval, so Waverly grabbed that one, and another one for herself, and then motioned for Nicole to put the remaining muffins down on the stairs. Nicole replaced the lid, laid the muffins on the steps, took a deep breath, and turned back to the group.

“Here ya go!” Waverly scrunched her nose, crinkled her green eyes, and bounced a little on her toes as she handed Nicole her reward. Nicole's face warmed in response, and Waverly’s expression changed, as if to ask Nicole whether or not she was ready to meet the girls. Satisfied by Nicole's response, Waverly took a deep breath and launched into the introductions. “Girls, this is Nicole Haught.” Nicole gave a crooked smile and a simple head nod. “Nicole, these are my friends and teammates.”

Chrissy took the lead and immediately let go of one of her crutches in order to give Nicole a firm handshake. “Hi. I’m Chrissy.” Nicole soon realized that while Chrissy's smile was genuinely friendly, her eyes held a healthy dose of caution in them. This girl was kind, but she was nobody's fool, and Nicole could absolutely respect that. It made her want to earn the tall blonde's trust, because anyone who was this protective of Waverly and Mattie was worth knowing. Nicole intentionally allowed her face to soften, letting her defenses falter and her mask of confidence slip for the briefest of moments as she really looked into Chrissy's eyes.

“Nice to meet you Chrissy.” _You can trust me._

“I’m Stephanie.” The little blonde offered a practiced beauty queen smile, and her tiny hand, along with an honest to god curtsy. Nicole gave her a quick handshake and dimpled grin, because the curtsy was actually pretty cute. So far so good.

Next, Nicole turned to the severe looking brunette with the Louis Vuitton backpack, who was apparently too good to eat chocolate muffins. She decided not to judge a book by its cover, and took the lead on this particular introduction by reaching her hand out first.

“Yeah, I’m Beth or whatever.” Beth waved off Nicole’s offered hand and turned to Chrissy. “So, when can we see you back on the court, Nedley?”

 _Rude._ Nicole dropped her hand, and took a step back toward Waverly’s comforting aura. She was pretty impressed at the deathstare that Waverly was leveling at Beth on her behalf, but her mind stuck on the word ‘court’. THAT was unexpected, especially since both Stephanie and Waverly were likely under 5’3” tall. Nicole sized up Chrissy, who was nearly as tall as she was, then Mattie and Beth who were only a few inches shorter than Chrissy and clearly very athletic. She decided it could work if they ran three guards on offense, and some kind of modified zone defense.

Nicole had plenty of experience with basketball, and basketball players because her older brother, Noah, had been a phenomenal college player, much to her father’s chagrin. Her heart squeezed inside of her chest at the reality of her big brother getting to live his dream, far away from their parent’s reach. Noah had been talented enough that he had his pick of schools, and when he left home just after her twelfth birthday, she had absolutely hated him for it. Her anger only lasted a few months though, because the first time she saw him play on tv, the hurt melted and morphed into joy and pride.

She couldn’t think of basketball without thinking of Noah, and she couldn't think of Noah without recalling the sun on her face, fresh air in her lungs, and that barely perceptible swish sound that the net makes with a perfect shot. If she closed her eyes right now, she was certain she would be able to smell the honeysuckle vines that grew on the chainlink fence of the blacktop court, just down the street from their house in Hamilton. They had spent countless hours playing basketball together because she and her brother both loved the game, but they loved avoiding the Haught household even more.

Noah’s patience for her as a kid sister was endless. He painstakingly taught her everything he knew, while somehow managing to make her side hurt from laughing at the stupid names he came up with for her 'moves'. He started her young, and when she made her first free throw at age five, he shouted, and ran, and picked her up, and twirled her in so many circles that she got dizzy. No one had ever been that proud of her for anything, and she had never seen Noah that happy before. Nicole decided, right then and there, that she would always make as many baskets as she could, if it made Noah THAT happy.

Noah never actually picked her up and twirled her again, but she knew he was proud when he razzed the older neighborhood boys for being beaten by an 'eight year-old girl', or when he called her 'Anklebreaker' after a cleanly executed fake. She missed that idiot, and decided to text him tonight. She missed basketball too, if she was being honest. Once Noah left for college, her mother had decided that it was inappropriate for a girl her age to go to the park without a chaperone, and then they moved to Belmont a few months later. Her mother never found out about the basketball stuff, because she and her brother would have both gotten the belt for it. Carol Haught would never have allowed her daughter to engage in anything as unladylike as an organized sport. _Man if she only knew._

Nicole was startled out of her basketball memories by a dramatic scoff from the meangirl. “ARE YOU SERIOUS?!? Are you fucking kidding me? Surgery Chrissy? That’s just perfect!” Beth leveled a pointed look at Stephanie, who seemed truly afraid for a split second, until she got the hint and pretended to be angry too, by matching Beth’s furious expressions.

“Oh yeah. MY bad Gardner!” Chrissy pinched the bridge of her nose, “Sorry to inconvenience you Princess, but it’s not like I wanted to _BLOW MY FUCKING KNEE OUT_ and risk my basketball career!” Chrissy was less angry than Nicole thought she had every right to be. She actually sounded more defeated and annoyed than pissed when she added, “We are a team. We will figure this out.”

“Whatever, Chrissy. This is BULLSHIT!” Beth stomped approximately four whole steps before turning around and glaring so hard at Stephanie that she visibly flinched. Steph mouthed a quick ‘sorry’ over her shoulder to Chrissy and scurried off after Beth.

“What a dick!" Mattie looked homicidal. "I swear to god, that if she couldn’t hit a three pointer with her eyes closed, I would have already beat that ass!” Mattie clapped her hands in between the words ‘beat’ ‘that’ and ‘ass’ just to accentuate her point, and Nicole nearly burst into laughter. She adored the mess, that was Mattie Perley, but she could feel the rage wafting off of Waverly and decided that now was not the best time. Chrissy must have noticed too, because she quickly grabbed her left crutch with her right hand, and used her free arm to draw Waverly into a side hug.

“Hey? Easy there Earp. I’m fine, okay? She’s just processing the disappointment and being her normal bitch-ass self. I’m not worried about Beth Gardner and her fuckin' temper tantrums. I meant what I said. We are a team. We’re gonna to figure this out.” She gave Waverly a tight squeeze around her shoulders, and placed a quick kiss on the top of her head before letting her go. “Is now a good time to announce that I will officially be eating my feelings for the rest of the day? This calls for chocolate! So, what does a girl have to do to get one of those ‘slap muffins’, or whatever Mats called them?”

“Shut the fuck up, Nedley,” Mattie said through a huff of laughter, “I don’t give a shit if you are hurt. I will still kick your lily white ass.” Mattie turned to Nicole, “Help me out here RedHot, those muffins _SLAP_ , do they not?” Nicole giggled and held up her hands, not wanting to pick sides, but she quickly assessed that Waverly’s fury was waning and that the curious girl was paying careful attention to her interaction with Mattie. Nicole wondered if her opinion actually mattered, so she took the opportunity to lighten the mood.

“Well, Matilda... I can call you Matilda, right?” Nicole teased.

“No the fuck you may absolutely NOT.” Mattie pronounced each word as if it were its own individual sentence, causing Chrissy to snort. Nicole tilted her head to the side and raised her eyebrows at the challenge.

“Well then, Miss Perley, it is my professional opinion, that Waverly’s muffins, do, in fact…” Nicole lifted her hand to her mouth, pretending to lick up from the bottom of her palm to the end of her fingertips, and mimicked a very sudden and completely suggestive spanking motion as she said, “ ** _SLAP_**.”

Mattie’s eyes widened, her jaw dropped, and then she was simply _destroyed_ with laughter. She doubled over and grabbed onto Nicole’s shirt sleeve in an effort to keep from falling out. She had forgotten how to breathe. Nicole giggled and locked eyes with Chrissy, who now had her fist in front of her mouth and was shaking with laughter. Nicole rolled her eyes as she pointed down at Mattie’s wheezing, choking form. Chrissy nodded in agreement and they busted out laughing in unison.

After the laughter subsided a little, Nicole used extreme caution to look over at Waverly, who was giving her the weirdest mixture of momface and amusement, and for whatever reason, the expression on her beautiful face triggered a wave of déjà vu so strong that Nicole almost gasped. Something about this moment suddenly felt more right than any other moment she could remember. Through no fault of her own, she fell helplessly into Waverly’s eyes, drowning in them without chance or desire for salvation. Nicole only hoped that somehow Waverly knew how grateful she was to be exactly here, exactly now, in this precise moment. Her face broke out into the biggest, deepest, happiest smile of the day and she said a silent prayer that it was enough. At some point she understood that she had been staring into Waverly’s eyes for longer than was socially acceptable, and Mattie looked like she might make a full recovery, so Nicole decided to speak.

“You ok there, Matilda?"

"That was LEGENDARY, dude. " She wheezed as she wiped away the tears.

"Well, on that note, any chance I earned a second muffin too?” Nicole hit Waverly with her best 'pretty please' face.

Waverly shook off the residual heat from the devastating look Nicole had given her earlier. _What the hell WAS that anyway?_ She wanted to pretend to be inconvenienced by the request for more muffins, but the truth was that if Nicole kept making that face she could have ANYTHING she wanted. _Whoa, down girl._ Waverly shocked her own self with that little secret internal confession, considering that she'd known the other girl for a total of thirty whole minutes now, and she wasn't entirely sure what she had meant by 'anything'. _Get it together Waves._

“Fine.” Waverly's eyes lingered for another long moment inside of Nicole’s pouty gaze, but she had reached her limit for self-discovery today, so she turned to retrieve the muffins off of the stairs. “I swear you guys are as bad as Wynonna! I’m hiding the rest of these until after practice, otherwise the other girls won’t get any.” She grumbled over her shoulder.

Nicole shrugged her shoulders at the other girls, and stuffed her hands in her pockets, suddenly a little nervous. Chrissy's cast caught her eye, so she decided to keep the conversation going. “Hey, so I don’t mean to be rude, and I know I just met her, but Beth seems like a real asshole.” Mattie nodded in agreement, but Chrissy just looked at the ground. Nicole bent down a little bit, in order to catch Chrissy's eyes, “You didn’t deserve any of that,” she motioned in the direction Beth and Stephanie had left in, “and all jokes aside, I’m really sorry about your knee.”

“It is what it is, I guess.” Chrissy stared down at her immobilizer cast, the looked back up at the kind redhaired girl.“Sorry to drag you into this drama on your first day, Nicole.”

“Meh, don’t worry about it. I kind of expected nothing less after the morning I’ve had.” Nicole happily accepted the muffin from her favorite Earp sister. She hadn’t intended to be so serious and earnest, but for whatever reason, the connection she felt with Waverly seemed to extend onto Mattie and Chrissy too. She wasn't planning to get attached to anyone at all, and the idea of needing this kind of connection made her feel unexpectedly anxious.

“Well, I’d better get to the office to pick up my class schedule. It was really nice meeting you guys.” She looked Waverly in the eyes, one last time. “Thanks again, for everything, Waverly. There’s no way I would have made it without you this morning.” Nicole tilted her head to the side and raised her shoulder to her ear, feeling a little too vulnerable about the confession, but hoping that Waverly understood just how true it was.

Nicole reluctantly ended the eye contact with Waverly, and threw a big smile and a sexy wink at Mattie, who just shook her head and grinned back with a blush. Nicole wiggled her fingers at Chrissy in a casual wave, and spun around to head up the stairs and into her first day of school.

She made it all the way to the front doors before she felt a familiar warmth in the crook of her elbow.

“Uh-uh. No way I'm letting you get away that easily.”


	11. Smokeshow

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Jealous. Waverly.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 6 months and a pandemic later... um, Hi? This is pretty short, but I've got to (re)start somewhere right?

Waverly could hear the pounding bass notes of her heart as the warmth of Nicole’s arm seeped into her skin. _What on earth am I doing?_ She hadn’t been thinking clearly, or maybe at all, when she had rushed off after Nicole, leaving Chrissy on crutches and Mattie holding those damn muffins. The impulse had felt so right, but the false bravery she had initially experienced was rushing out of her system far too quickly, only to be replaced with pure, unadulterated regret. The regret burrowed its way into her consciousness, chewing through the adrenaline rush from a few moments ago, until only self-doubt remained.

Waverly felt herself wince at the barrage of logical arguments and practical reasons to take it all back and get out of there FAST. This was a mistake. She firmly resolved to pull away when she felt Nicole’s arm tighten slightly against her own. A brief, timid glance upward revealed a deep dimple creasing the left side of the redhead’s face, and an adorably amused smile piercing her perfect, pouty lips. In seemingly slow-motion, Nicole tilted her head toward Waverly, shy brown eyes scanning the smaller girl’s face, bouncing quickly yet carefully across her features and firmly landing inside her very soul. Waverly froze. 

Moments ago she had been frantic and more than ready to bolt. Now, quite unfairly and with just a dimpled grin from the new girl, her reality shifted once again. God, she was tired of feeling so affected and powerless and... _unsteady_ . She closed her eyes and took a deep breath, willing herself to get a firmer grip on her emotional and physical responses. Opening her eyes to the sight of a still-smiling Nicole nervously running her free hand through that gorgeous red hair, she realized that letting go of her arm was now completely off the table. Waverly ashamedly craved any connection at all with her new friend, even if it was silly and impetuous and far too forward on her part. The realization was unnerving to say the least. It would be super convenient if she could ignore - or maybe at least repress - all these _reactions_. Her mind began to rapid-cycle between the desperate need to be next to Nicole, the panic that being near her caused, and the strange calm that was currently blooming inside of her chest.

As if on cue, Waverly’s brain overloaded completely. _ERROR 404: FILE NOT FOUND... SHUTDOWN.EXE_

It was as if her heart and conscious mind simply abandoned their frantic search for the deeper meaning of all of this sensation and relinquished control, allowing her body to slowly, deliciously melt into the warm safety that only comes from touching someone you trust. 

_TRUST._

Well, that made no logical sense now, did it? Yet still, the idea resonated. She inexplicably and quite implicitly trusted the gentle and mysterious girl by her side. All other knowledge faded into the background as she became acutely aware of the soothing thud of Nicole’s heartbeat where it vibrated into the bare skin of her forearm. This particular sensation proved to be _supremely_ distracting, which is why, when Waves finally opened her mouth to speak, entirely the wrong words fell out. 

“You and Mattie really hit it off, huh?”

Her words were spoken with an unintended edge and she nearly cringed at the salty dose of jealousy and insecurity she’d accidentally injected into them. _Why did I bring up Mattie?_ There were a thousand other questions she genuinely wanted to ask Nicole, and none of them involved reminding the girl of the very clear chemistry she shared with friggin’ Mattie Perley. Waverly’s stomach bottomed out completely when the dimple in Nicole’s cheek instantly deepened further. The tall girl’s eyes glazed over a bit as she recalled the earlier encounter and Waverly’s heart took another nosedive.

Nicole huffed out a half-laugh and shook her head side to side with a giant smile. “Mattie’s hilarious, man.” She tilted her beautiful head, searching for the right words. “Intense...but, like, _genuinely_ hilarious. She’s so imposing and STRONG.” Nicole used her free arm to mimic flexing her bicep, and the smile on her face was so fond and open that it made Waverly want to rage. She knew that Nicole and Mattie had made quite the impression on each other, but this was getting ridiculous. Nicole’s voice dropped an octave, sending an involuntary shiver through Waverly’s spine.“She’s so… _DARK_.” 

Waverly surmised in that moment that the words “dark” and “sexy” were probably interchangeable, based on the way Nicole’s eyes darkened and narrowed and her right eyebrow pitched upward slightly. _Sheesh, could Nicole fangirl ANY harder?_

Yes, apparently, because, despite Waverly’s silent and desperate prayers for Nicole to shut up about Mattie already, she just kept right on gushing. “Anyway, all I’m saying is that she looks like she could definitely hold her own in a fight.”

Nicole chanced a look down at the beautiful girl on her arm. She was still having trouble breathing through all of the touch endorphins and her heartbeat was so loud in her ears that she was certain it could be heard by everyone else in the hallway. Waverly was here. She cared and her arm was ungodly amounts of soft. She also smelled like honeysuckle and this sexy, earthy thing that Nicole couldn’t quite name. Suddenly, she couldn’t help but imagine herself wrapped around Waverly Earp, tangled up with her hands on softer, sweeter skin than just the other girl’s forearm. She heard her own breath hitch as a shockwave of arousal landed somewhere deep inside of her body.

The unexpected fantasy ended far too soon at the realization that Waverly’s expression had hardened and become utterly unreadable. What happened? Had she said something wrong? Was she being too honest? _Oh no._ Had she sounded too critical of Mattie just then? Wait, was Waverly worried about her reaction to Maggie’s queerness? Nicole almost laughed at the irony of that particular concept (given the fact that she had nearly gayed her pants a few seconds ago). Whatever it was, she had to fix whatever was causing Waverly’s distress, so she went for a joke. 

“Honestly, for a second there I thought she was going to throw me over her shoulder and drag me off to have her way with me.” Nicole accidentally snickered at her own joke. She couldn’t help but giggle, remembering that first impression of Mattie and how quickly the intimidating girl had gone from daddy to dumbstruck. “But then she got all shy and tongue-tied, and it was so completely adorable.”

_There,_ Nicole thought, _that should clear this little misunderstanding up._

Nope. Waverly looked even more skeptical or confused or whatever this new face meant? Wait, did Waverly not realize that Mattie was gay? _Shit._ _Good one, Nicole_. There was only one way to find out, and Nicole would be totally lying if she said she wasn’t curious about what Waverly Earp thought about this particular subject. “Um, so, I got the distinct impression she likes girls, right?” Nicole hated how nervous her voice sounded at the end of that question, so she pretended to nonchalantly search the hallway for the school office.

“Ya picked up on that, eh?” Waverly grumbled sarcastically. 

Ok, not the response Nicole expected, and the younger Earp seemed even more… disgruntled? Maybe Waverly was just testing her? Maybe she was being ambivalent in an attempt to suss out whether or not Nicole was homophobic? Nicole took a deep breath and decided it was now or never. “Well, Mattie is beautiful, she’s a total smokeshow, and whoever ends up with her is one lucky girl.” Nicole added a wink and a little shoulder bump for emphasis. 

Waverly, wrenched her arm away from Nicole, stopping them both dead in their tracks and quickly wrapping both arms around her middle. She looked really, REALLY angry now and Nicole suddenly felt like the deer in the middle of the road this morning. _What the hell?_ Nicole dumbly watched as Waverly closed her eyes and exhaled sharply. 

“Whatever, Nicole!” 

Just like that, she turned and practically stomped back down the hallway toward the front doors.

“Wave-?”

The furious little cheerleader heard the first part of her name, but didn’t bother turning around. She was halfway back out of the front doors before the cloud of rage started to dissipate and her brain began functioning again. _Stupid, gorgeous, infuriating, ridiculous Nicole fangirl Haught!_ Waverly needed to punch something. 

She looked up to see Mattie and Chrissy making their way toward her, all smiles and muffins, and did yet another about-face. She couldn’t trust herself to interact with Mattie just yet. She was too freaking pissed off. The good news was that Nicole definitely wasn’t a homophobe. The bad news was that she was clearly smitten with Mattie. It struck Waverly then how hypocritical it was for her to be mad at Nicole for wanting to be friends with Mattie, when Mattie was one of her own oldest and dearest friends. _Fine!_ Nicole wanting to be friends with Mattie wasn’t the end of the world. _Fine!_ So she thought Mattie was beautiful or whatever. _Who cares!_ The smokeshow comment was a little much, but whatever. _What-ever._

**Works inspired by this one:**

  * [[PODFIC] Muffins?](https://archiveofourown.org/works/26782216) by [AudioFrickBooks](https://archiveofourown.org/users/AudioFrickBooks/pseuds/AudioFrickBooks)




End file.
